When the Next Great Adventure Ends
by Darkglare
Summary: A post-DH kid-fic! Mostly Severus/Harry, but there is a return of Dumbledore too.
1. Chapter 1

A post-DH kid-fic! Mostly Severus/Harry, but there is a return of Dumbledore too.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

When the Next Great Adventure EndsChapter 1

A youth with long straight red hair was physically dragging a much smaller, struggling black-haired boy into the Great Hall.

The small boy was making it clear to anyone who bothered to listen, "I want to go home. Let me go," while punctuating his demands with punches and kicks to the Gryffindor head boy who had hold of him.

"Some assistance please," the head boy requested calmly amidst the sea of grief and jubilation.

Only minutes had passed since Harry Potter had defeated Lord Voldemort.

No one paid the head boy any mind, even if his uniform was close to a century out of date.

It was not until he got close to an elderly man in a kilt that there was a barely voiced question of disbelief directed to the Gryffindor, "Albus?"

"Thank goodness. Aberforth, I have no idea how or why, but without my wand, young Severus here is uncontrollable."

Aberforth narrowed his eyes to study this person that appeared to be his brother from the turn of the century who claimed to be trying to control a boy too young to even attend Hogwarts, much less have the unlikely name of Severus.

The young boy drew his clenched fist back and gave his captor a harsh blow to the groin. Albus doubled over and fell to his knees, losing his grip on the other boy's arm.

Quirking his lips at the obvious pain of this person, Aberforth was amused that this fellow would be unable to strut about as his head boy brother had nearly a century ago for at least a couple minutes.

Unable to speak, Albus weakly pointed after Severus who was weaving his way through the Great Hall towards the exit. Unlike him, Severus did not have his adult memories. Albus's were severely out of date, but Severus thought he was a child. He accused Albus of taking him from his home and had screamed and struggled during the entire walk to the castle.

Unlike Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape did not trust people. He thought he had died earlier tonight, but something had gone terribly wrong. He may not know what, but he was still Severus Snape, even in a smaller body. Until he knew what was going on, it was best to play dumb. He believed Dumbledore was Dumbledore since he was almost definitely sure he was himself, unless this was some dying fever dream due to Nagini's poison. If it was, Severus expected a higher level of terror, rather than a spotty teenage Dumbledore dragging him by the arm to Hogwarts.

For now, if people considered him to have the mind of a child, he might have time to piece together what he should do. Being a known Death Eater and on the losing side would lead to immediate arrest and transport to Azkaban. Severus was not sure about murdering the headmaster since he was no longer dead, if he was understanding this unlikely turn of events correctly. However, why would that be important to the Wizengamot, if he was even given a trial? A child might receive some leniency, rather than have delighted enemies clap their hands gleefully together that his younger age made it possible for him to serve a longer life sentence. Until he knew what Dumbledore planned, Severus could not depend on him. He moved around the room, scanning it. Severus decided there really was no one that would aid him, even if he figured out what he needed. There were so many people dead. Someone would be made to pay for this, and it certainly would not be the Dark Lord since he was no longer accountable. He had heard McGonagall earlier when she attacked him. Potter? Malfoy? Shacklebolt? Then he realized that his ordeal had left him addled as he briefly considered Longbottom.

Leaving the castle, he tried to consider what a child would do, or even him as a child. Severus was allowed to wander outside the house till it was dark. Trouble was, if he was really this young, he'd be panicking because it was currently dark. He knew his address, but he had to plan his return home carefully, with every step traceable since apparating to Spinner's End would expose his adult knowledge.

Be logical. Pretend to be lucky enough to choose the main road which led to the front gate? Once he was in Hogsmeade, there was a train station. Ask for help there, even though he knew that the train was not currently running, unless arrangements were made to ship the students home? On his way towards the gate, Severus stopped to check some corpses, picked up some small change and after testing that he could cast with a wand, tucked it under his trousers in his saggy underpants. If he was caught, he could jar it so it slid out his trouser leg.

Severus did not want to make his apprehension easy, if anyone was following him. He also did not want someone trying to hurt him since he appeared to be a helpless child. He did not carry a light, moved parallel to the Hogsmeade road and walked quietly to listen for anyone either following or coming towards him.

He had not expected everyone in Hogsmeade to be awake, along with many students, and for them all to be milling in the streets like a bunch of dunderheads waiting for a massive destructive spell to do them all in, if they did not know the fighting was over. His height made it easy for him to blend in and look around the train station, besides listening to the students. What was happening with them? If the Hogwarts Express was summoned, he could board it with them. Many of them were not in uniform and he may be mistaken for a very short first year.

When some prefects joined Prof. Vector and then started yelling for the students to line up, Severus remained behind. He did not want to go back up to Hogwarts.

He had been thinking he should approach anyone appearing gullible for assistance, when there was a loud bang as the Knight Bus appeared. Someone else had summoned it, and a queue formed since there were a number of people stranded in Hogsmeade. Severus joined the end of it.

Trying to appear innocuous, Severus tried to appear as if he was with the big woman in front of him, then he would innocently ask about his destination later.

It did not work. The female conductor eyeballed him and asked, "Where is your parent?"

"Home. I got lost and I want to go home," he replied. That was not an unreasonable request.

"Do you live in Hogsmeade?"

Severus denied it and supplied his address. The woman asked him to stand to the side while she got the rest of the adult passengers loaded, then took out something that looked like a small steering wheel. Severus glanced at the nearly blind driver with his ridiculously thick glasses that appeared to be a stronger prescription than Trelawney's, but he had a steering wheel. After she fiddled with it, she requested he take a seat and pointed at the nearest bed. Severus gave some thought that children of his age may be allowed to ride for free since he was not asked to pay a fare, but it did not seem practical since he was not with a paying adult.

The ride was horrible with many stops with more passengers hailing the Knight Bus. He sat patiently and listened. The news was mostly rumor, but the wildest stories stopped after they crisscrossed England, Wales and back into Scotland. More facts were confirmed, and Severus continued to listen for his name especially. He remained a well-hated person, but no one pointed him out. Potter was mentioned as having declared that he had been Dumbledore's man all along, however that did not sway some people who were happy he was dead, or if there was a mistake, were certain that he would end in Azkaban for Dumbledore's murder. There was no mention of a young and very much alive Albus Dumbledore being sighted by anyone. Severus doubted the old manipulator was lying low to give Potter his moment in the spotlight.

Once the sun rose, Severus was starting to consider that he may be able to get a copy of _The Daily Prophet_ if another passenger left it behind. The stops were in no order. First on was not first off, nor did the bus seem to be following a logical order of going to the next closest destination.

When they stopped in front Purge and Dowse in London, Severus was expecting someone to board since no one that had boarded after him had mentioned St. Mungo's.

The conductor pointed to him and announced, "This is your stop."

"No, it isn't," Severus denied and repeated his address at Spinner's End.

"Your parents will be notified where you are when you check in, and then they'll pick you up. Come on, I'll take you to the desk."

Severus followed her. It was not where he wanted to go, but there were real train stations in London that he could use to get home once he snuck out of here. Even if he was a lost child and his parents were alive, he was not sure if his mother would have come to retrieve him from St. Mungo's quickly. Perhaps he could get a breakfast out of this and a discarded newspaper to read the official version of what happened.

Like the bus trip, things happened slowly, however now it was a bureaucratic rather than inefficient slowness at St. Mungo's.

He could not think of any plausible reason why an innocent child would lie about his name so he supplied it which led to some spells being cast on him. Since they had no idea that he did not know exactly how old he was, it was announced that he was eight while that fact was recorded. He was confirmed as Severus Snape, and the paper pusher's initial question regarding if his parent was also named Severus Snape was disproved to match his truthful answer that no, his father was Tobias and his mother was Eileen.

When he realized there was going to be an exam involved, he was allowed to change into a set of hospital pajamas in a loo, and he stashed the wand in the toilet tank. It was doubtful someone would find it before he decided whether he could risk coming back for it.

Severus briefly considered trying to make a run for it. Healers were skilled witches and wizards. If they thought he belonged here, he would be detained unless he cast spells back at them. Although surprise would be on his side, an eight year old showing off that he could stun people was not the kind of attention he needed.

These were not the people he feared. Those were the ones that had to be convinced he was young, confused and perhaps quite stupid.

The examination was troubling. He did not want it, but he kept calm by daydreaming he should have gotten lost thirty years ago. What would have happened to his parents if someone cared that he was underweight, short, undernourished, had physical injuries, especially those lovely ones made with a belt buckle, fleas and lice? Severus was surprised regarding the head lice. He just remembered that he was itchy all over and never made the distinction between what was biting him where.

He was healed, cleaned up along with the vermin being removed, fed breakfast, and given a potion to rectify the vitamin and mineral deficiencies detected in his body.

The misconception that he was staying here while they waited for a parent to collect him, or until he was able to slip out, was corrected. At some point they realized he was an orphan so he was turned over to some nitwit from the Ministry.

He followed her through the floo and joined a roomful of other children. This certainly was good towards blending in, but they had his real name, parents' names and address. Furthermore at some point, he was going to have to fake being upset over the sudden discovery that his parents were really dead since they were alive when he was eight years old. Severus hoped he'd only have to do that once or twice since shedding tears over Tobias Snape would really gall him.

If the Ministry got around to clearing his name or anything favorable regarding him, Severus figured he could always fake an accidental blow to the head to restore or partially restore his memories.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 2

It was not until hours later that Harry even realized what had miraculously happened outside of the hurricane of congratulations and well-wishers that surrounded him. His disbelief and happiness regarding the news that both Prof. Dumbledore and Prof. Snape were alive was quickly quenched when he heard that Prof. Snape was lost. Additionally, Prof. Dumbledore confessed that Prof. Snape seemingly had no present day memories. He had struggled and demanded to go home.

Prof. McGonagall assured Harry that everyone here was looking for a small boy with uncut black hair and ill-fitting clothes, including the ghosts and house elves.

When Harry took a moment to tell Dumbledore how stupid he was, it seemed dying had not changed him at all. He gave some excuse about the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the one. He was not around when Harry needed him most, and did not do a good job of trusting or getting necessary information to him.

Before Harry succumbed to exhaustion, he went for a look outside since he thought that a little boy might find a huge castle full of hiding places, but if it were him, he'd want to get out and try to figure out where he was. Actually, he'd probably want to lie down since he'd believe Dudley finally brained him good. He couldn't imagine trying to find his way from Hogwarts to Surrey, mostly because he would not want to return to the Dursleys. On a whim, Harry also checked the kitchens since he knew Snape was smart enough to prioritize food.

When Harry awoke the next day, sleeping for more than twelve hours straight, he talked to the Weasleys before asking if Snape had been found. Sadly, they were starting to think that a dark wizard who escaped getting rounded up by the Ministry might have offered to help the little boy and then abducted him.

Feeling that something more should be done, Harry did get in to see Kingsley Shacklebolt, but with the Ministry in chaos, finding one child was not a priority.

Harry tried not to give up hope, but as days passed and then finally a week, he felt that he failed Snape. Well, everyone there had failed Snape. How could Dumbledore have let him out of his sight, knowing that he had no idea where he was or what was going on? If his brother, Aberforth, had not confirmed that he had seen him also, Harry might have been willing to chalk up the assertion that Snape had been magically resurrected too as Dumbledore's mind playing tricks on him since it was not the best explanation for what happened to Snape's body. All that remained at the Shack was all the blood that poured out of him.

At first Harry thought his idea to address a letter to Snape was good since the owl left and flew south. He would send a letter every couple of days, and paid for return postage from the post office. He also thought to include a pencil with the instructions for Snape to write back where he was.

Owls from the Hogsmeade post office continued to fly south, rather than towards Hogwarts, and owls from Diagon Alley, or the London post office, flew north. When Harry was allowed to borrow Pig, he flew east from the Burrow, and Harry planned to either use Pig more and release him in different places, while Ron and he were busy with auror training, to get closer to where Snape could be.

That changed when Pig returned from his first delivery with a letter. A form letter from the Ministry informing the sender that Severus Snape, former headmaster of Hogwarts, was deceased. Ron agreed that was odd, and when they asked Mr. Weasley, afraid that Mrs. Weasley would start crying over letters addressed to Fred, he claimed to have never seen or heard of anyone getting a letter like that. He believed the owl would usually refuse to go or would circle back to the sender after a couple minutes.

Harry tried to use his influence as both an Auror trainee and the Boy Who Lived Yet Again to try to get answers out of the Ministry since someone was sending a reply. What he got were a lot of confused looks since it was decided to keep Severus Snape's return as a helpless child a secret. Everyone knew about Albus Dumbledore, of course.

Prof. McGonagall was interested in seeing the letter, and showed it to other members of the Hogwarts staff who were interested in recovering Severus Snape, now that they knew the truth. Harry shifted impatiently as he considered their platitudes empty and a bit late to be of any help, especially from Dumbledore who claimed he was diligently looking for Snape. Even if the others did not know who that young child was, letting one stroll around the Great Hall in the midst of all the injuries and dead bodies laid out was terrible.

Harry knew he was still angry at the old, now younger than him, Albus Dumbledore for not telling him anything. In Snape's memory, Snape seemed to be the one getting upset over Harry having to die to kill Voldemort.

Thinking of that, Prof. McGonagall confirmed she had put Severus's memories in a vial and was storing them in the headmistress's office, now that it was hers. It seemed Dumbledore had worked out some deal to teach Transfiguration, like he used to.

Not impressed with how neat and tidy things were working out for them along with the repairs to the castle, Harry was persistent and finally Dumbledore offered, "Perhaps you would like to see if there are any clues in what Severus did prior to running away, Harry?"

"Sure, let's take a look at that," Harry agreed. That had to be better than this dithering about. Harry was considering putting his training on hold because he felt so strongly about how this had gone tits up.

Prof. McGonagall joined Prof. Dumbledore and him in the pensieve.

Dumbledore's shared memory began in the Shrieking Shack.

Albus had found himself lying on the dirty floor and noticed Severus when he sat up. He approached the boy, softly calling, "Severus."

Harry shivered. Snape, or maybe he should think of the boy as Severus, was young. Much younger than Dumbledore, maybe even less than ten. He was lying in the large dark puddle of blood.

He was relieved that Snape remained unconscious while Dumbledore got a hold of Snape's wand and levitated him out of the sticky blood and over to a cleaner bit of floor. Harry was annoyed when Dumbledore then turned the wand on himself to clean up his clothes, before he tidied up Snape's ill-fitting ones.

Leaning closer to the boy, Harry visibly checked his neck for any marks. The jacket being way too large, along with the stretched out neck of a jumper over another shirt, maybe a frayed cotton undershirt before it got chewed up and turned yellowish, made it easy for Harry to see that there were no bite marks now.

The original Dumbledore cast _r_ _ennervate_ and immediately began speaking to his fellow headmaster, "Severus, come on. We need to get up to the school."

Harry saw Snape's eyes focus on the congealed blood.

"We need to go," Dumbledore repeated. "If Harry failed, we might be the only two who know what needs to be done."

"Who are you?"

"It's me. Albus. You've changed too, Severus. I have no idea what caused this, but we need to hurry."

"What do you want with me?" the young Snape asked as he backed away from the older boy.

"We might be the only ones that can stop Voldemort."

"Did you steal me away from my parents?"

"What are you talking about, Severus?"

"I want to go home."

"There is no time for joking around."

"No, I want to go home."

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what? I want to go home."

"I don't have time for this. I'll come back for you later, Severus."

Dumbledore had made a motion with the wand, but nothing happened. Surprised by that, he conjured up an easy chair to test it, then verbalized, " _Incarcerous."_

Harry was momentarily puzzled but then realized that Dumbledore tried to use Snape's own wand against him. He could not help but grin because he did not want Dumbledore tying Snape up and leaving him in the Shrieking Shack for who knew how long. What kind of person did that to a child, especially since this is where he died? Wait … this is the man that left Harry on the Dursleys doorstep in the middle of the night and did not even bother to ring the bell before running off! Why should Harry be surprised?

Snape had his back against the wall now as he accused with a pointing finger, "You're a wizard. Why did you take me? Did you do something to my parents?"

"I don't have time to argue with you, Severus," Dumbledore replied, approaching him.

"Stay away from me," was Snape's reply, but he punctuated it with a burst of accidental magic that knocked the Gryffindor backwards.

"You need to stop this nonsense, young man."

Harry realized that it was inevitable that it would get physical, with Dumbledore being bigger and stronger, but Snape fought like he was possessed as the head boy tried to drag him into the tunnel. The small boy was using everything at his disposal when pulling, kicking and regular hitting weren't enough. He bit Dumbledore, pulled his hair, tried to poke him in the eye, and there were plenty more bursts of accidental magic that threatened to bring the tunnel down on top of them.

He understood Snape's panic. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had warned their innocent little Dudley against child snatchers, and told him to fight as hard as he could. From the things Snape was shouting, he thought Dumbledore was capable of anything.

When the current professor looked at Harry questioning his apparent cheering for the little boy, Harry shrugged and explained, "He woke up in a disgusting room with a huge puddle of blood on the floor. I agree you look like someone I would want to fight and get away from. You're also dragging him through an underground tunnel. I'd easily agree with the mass murderer or child stealer assessments. I'm not sure where he's getting the uh … other ideas from. Did you accidentally grab him the wrong way for him to call you a boy humper?"

Visibly shaken by the repetition of that accusation, Albus declared, "Certainly not."

Minerva changed the subject by mentioning, "You could have warned me that I'd need to crawl through this tunnel, Albus, before you invited me to join the two of you."

"My apologies, Minerva. We're almost to the end."

Harry assisted Prof. McGonagall out of the tunnel and almost missed the kick Snape gave Dumbledore in the face before making a break for it.

The current Dumbledore complained, "Already has that stubborn streak."

Snape had almost made it to a stand of trees when the longer-legged, faster Dumbledore tackled him.

Harry tried not to grin as the stubborn little git kicked furiously at the older and heavier teenager. He was starting to think Snape could have given Dudley a bit of trouble. He was forty or fifty pounds of mean fighting machine.

Eventually Dumbledore had enough of trying to behave and stunned the smaller boy with a couple blows to the face, then wrestled him along while threatening him with a spanking for being so troublesome.

Harry glanced at Dumbledore then Prof. McGonagall then back to Dumbledore.

"Why are you being so rough with him?"

"I needed to get to the school to help you, Harry."

Harry did not quite believe that since if Dumbledore were in that much of a hurry, he should have just let Snape go. That's what he ended up doing once he found out that Harry already finished the job. How could Snape help him like this? Was Dumbledore going to offer Snape to Voldemort as a prize?

The threat of a spanking did not seem to strike fear into Snape because it was a slow struggle towards the front of the school with Snape yelling whenever they got close enough to someone for him to hope that someone would care about a child being abducted. The only person that paid them any mind was Prof. Trelawney in the Front Hall who stopped from picking up a crystal ball to peer owlishly at the pair.

This gave Harry a sense of dread because if someone grabbed Snape after he got free, no one seemed to care that they did not recognize the red-haired student dragging a young, unwilling boy about. Actually, if someone else grabbed Snape, it would be easier to _stupefy_ him and then carry him outside the gates to apparate. Snape's wand was the only thing that prevented Dumbledore from using magic on him.

Even in the Great Hall, no one even questioned Dumbledore dragging Snape around the room. Harry saw how Snape noticed all the injured and dead people, and after he struck the final blow against Dumbledore, he circled to look carefully at everyone who was spread out. Harry followed him, and was appalled that no one could be bothered to lead him out of here or even tell a little boy that he did not belong here. Snape even passed within a few meters of him and shouldered his way through a crowd to look at Voldemort's corpse.

When Snape reached the door and left, Harry turned to look around since he could not see most of the Front Hall since he was tied to where Dumbledore was. Dumbledore was now fine and talking to his brother, Aberforth.

"I thought Severus had left the room immediately, Harry, and was hiding in the castle."

Harry sniped, "That was pretty stupid."

"He may have been looking for his parents among the wounded," Minerva suggested.

That suggestion left Harry feeling like someone just punched him in the chest. He suspected that Snape had a rotten childhood, but even Harry did not want to find Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia lying on a floor staring at the ceiling of the Great Hall.

Leaving the pensieve, Harry's first question was, "Are Prof. Snape's parents still alive?"

"No," Albus answered.

"But they were alive whenever he was this age," Harry thought aloud. "So where did he live?"

"I've already been there and set up an alarm, Harry."

"With Snape's own wand?" Harry asked, thinking that the dark wood of Dumbledore's current wand looked familiar.

"Hmm, I think you may be on to something, Harry. I've been meaning to get to Ollivander's. Severus's wand is as obstinate as he is."

"Well, if you want your old one, I threw it back in your tomb. That was before I knew you were back."

"Oh?"

"Why would I want a wand called the Death Stick?"

"A wise decision. However, I no longer command it."

At this point, Harry was not really looking for Dumbledore's approval or could even care where he got a new wand. He was more disturbed that he had been continuing to use Snape's wand, even though he admitted it did not work well for him. Was it some of trophy system? Is that why he took Grindelwald's? Did Dumbledore know it was a Deathly Hallow prior to dueling Grindelwald? Though in Harry's opinion, Dumbledore had not defeated Snape.

"Never mind that," Harry muttered. "We need to check that house."

"Yes," Minerva agreed. "You know where it is, Albus?"

"Yes, but -"

Harry's patience was wearing thin, he did not want to hear 'but'. He had a rare day off from training and wanted to accomplish something, rather than giving a speech, being served a gallon of tea with a trough of sweets, and having his face hurt from smiling because he never knew when a camera was going to get shoved under his nose. Harry wanted to spend time with Ginny, Teddy, the other Weasleys, and he could not enjoy himself knowing that Snape was lost. After seeing this memory, Harry knew that as a young boy Snape was not stupid, but against a former Death Eater, his feistiness would only make his captor laugh harder.

"I want to go there now and take a good look around. I'll set wards and alarm charms," Harry insisted. 

Minerva agreed, "I think that best. I'll come too. If he returned home, it may have taken him days to reach there and he may still be resting before deciding where to go next. We don't want him to do another runner when he sees Albus."

"Days?" Albus repeated.

"I have noticed Severus never had a proper Scot accent, Albus, so yes, days."

Dumbledore gave the two of them the address, and Harry momentarily wondered if they found Snape, if he could point out where his mum used to live. He wasn't sure if Aunt Petunia would admit to ever living anywhere but Surrey.

Their excursion proved to be pointless. Harry was able to tell which house it was, despite the lack of numbering on the outside, since there was only one warded against entry and although vacant looking like many of the others, it at least had some blinds still up. He tried knocking on the front door to be polite. The blinds were closed on the front window, but Harry was able to press his face against the kitchen window and peer into the room. If a little boy was living here, he did not leave anything lying about.

Harry broke into the vacant house next to it, but found the common wall between Snape's house and his neighbor's was also warded.

Minerva cast some spells and they proved Dumbledore's use of Snape's wand against his own house to be pointless. Between Harry and Minerva they finally got the back door open and entered.

He was disappointed, but was further saddened as they searched, when Harry realized that Snape still had his things in the much smaller of the two bedrooms upstairs. The other room did not have anything in the drawers or closet, and the large bed was neatly made up. Harry felt uncomfortable and wondered what he would have done if he continued living in the house that belonged to his parents.

"When did his parents die?" Harry asked.

"I think he lived alone here before your house in Godric's Hollow was attacked. I needed to come here to visit him once before that," Albus commented.

Minerva reminded him, "He was still in seventh year, Albus, when his mother died."

"He was?"

"Yes, Horace gave him a day off of school. He was in my NEWT level class. It was quite a case of karma since Potter and his group found it so hilarious, and then both Potter's parents died of dragonpox about a month later."

"Really? I remember Potter's parents, but not -" 

"Why would you, Albus? It's not as if you would have sent flowers or even a card. I think Severus only stayed in Slytherin for that day since he had missed whatever was done for her."

"Why would he do that?"

"He didn't know she had died till he sent her a letter and the owl circled back. Horace referred him to me as deputy headmistress to find out what the problem was."

"Why wasn't I told any of this?"

"You were eventually, but it was too late for anything to be done. He was already seventeen so it did not matter."

"I would matter to me, Minerva."

"Why would it?"

"I care about all Hogwarts students."

Harry added to the argument by asking, "Since when?" This was the idiot that asked Snape to murder him, and thought Voldemort making him headmaster and staffing the school with Death Eaters was everything going according to his crackpot plan. If Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone back to school on September first instead of a hellishly long camping trip, where would that have left them?

"You're not, Albus. I take care of the Gryffindors, and sometimes if you know their parents, you attend a funeral. You are also selective about your wedding invitations and refuse to be made anyone's godfather. Filius and Pomona take care of their houses, and Horace is a bit fickle. He did attend the Potters' funeral with the two of us. I do remember that."

"I think you are mistaken, Minerva. If I had known -"

"If you had paid attention, you would have given Gryffindor points for all their witty jokes regarding a Slytherin's mother dying. I happen to have a very good memory, Albus. You forget Horace's way of handling Slytherin was vastly different than Severus. Horace is still selective about which social engagements he chooses to honor, even in the case of students dying. Severus would not have skipped Vincent Crabbe's funeral in order to attend one that he hoped would offer a better buffet."

"I'm sure Horace only mentioned that in jest."

"Oh yes, death is such a merry joke," she chastised. "That's why the quality of the family's cellar is paramount."

"Why are you being so negative, Minerva?"

"I want Severus found. Your poor judgment led to him running off, Albus. You knew he did not know anything, and -" 

"I was injured."

"Pity it was not lasting."

Harry was not used to overhearing Prof. McGonagall take Prof. Dumbledore down a peg. In this case, he felt she was right, and regretted she did not do it more often. Was this new because Dumbledore appeared to be young and inexperienced, or was this something that had occurred in the past behind closed doors?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 3

Months passed, and Harry remained disappointed that no one had turned up anything about a lost wizard boy who knew his name was Severus Snape. The only sign that they had that he was still alive somewhere were the original wards remained on his house, rather than collapsing.

When Kingsley had enough of Harry, he candidly told him that even a furious Mad Eye could not find Snape after he killed Dumbledore because he had so many layers of spells woven into his very being. Without those, the Ministry would have found him within hours of being notified.

Harry did not quite believe that claim because he was now working for the Ministry. Sure, he was an auror in training, but he was seeing enough to have him know that the Ministry only concentrated on what it wanted to concentrate on. Missing children were a low priority. A child who was not really a child was even lower.

After Hermione found her parents, she made reform her top priority. If Shacklebolt thought hiring Hermione after she graduated with her NEWTs next year would shut her up, he was sorely mistaken. Her letters were full of ideas. Ron usually passed his over to Harry to digest so he could reply with something decent sounding. That would not work when Hermione came over to the Burrow for the Christmas holidays, when she was not with her parents.

Harry had mixed feelings about the Burrow. Harry still thought it was brilliant, and had moved into Percy's room at Mrs. Weasley's insistence. With the holidays coming though, it would be the first year without Fred. It was going to be rough, except that Ginny would also be home from school.

At work, Harry had agreed to a new program for the war orphans to celebrate the season. Actually, it was all orphans, not just the ones that lost their parents in the war. Not all of them were as lucky as Teddy to have someplace to live, and the Ministry now administered a large orphanage that housed close to a hundred children when Hogwarts was in session, about twice as many when it was the summer holiday. In addition to the propaganda for stable wizard families to do their share and adopt orphans, Harry was approached regarding Ministry members buying holiday gifts for orphans based on what they requested. He was allowed to pick a name in advance, along with Kingsley and a few others who were going to receive some press to encourage others to take part.

Ron came along for moral support, and was hoping he would be able to look through them to see if there was a Chudley Cannon fan among the boys that he could pick out. Harry was pleasantly surprised by how nice the display was with a beautiful tree with all the handwritten wishes from the children on cards attached. They all had comments added and written by one hand to help identify the appropriate gifts, such as ' _Girl, age 3'_ and _'Boy, age 12_ '.

Snorting at some of the cards that he unfolded, Ron burst out in laughter, "Oh no. This poor kid."

"What?"

"Look at this poor sod's name," Ron giggled as he handed it over.

Harry looked at the outside _'Boy, age 8'_ then opened the card. _'I would like to receive a warm winter coat please. Thank you in advance. Severus.'_

"Do you think it's him, Ron?"

"Who?"

"Snape?"

Ron looked at the card but the neatly printed block letters gave no clue. If it was in big red letters and had a big 'T' on the top, then that would be a definite hint. "I don't think so, mate. Notice the 'please' and 'thank you'."

Harry made a face at Ron and said, "I think I'll keep this one. If you find another one wanting a coat or some other clothes, let me see it. I can handle a few of these."

"All right," Ron replied. If he did not find a nice sounding quidditch fan, he may do that too. As long as they didn't have a stupid name like Severus, Draco or Lucius. Children should not have to ask for a coat. His may not have been new, but Ron always had one, along with a stack of hand-knit gloves, scarves and hats. "Don't forget gloves and whatever to match it," he added gruffly.

"Good idea. Do you think they'll let me meet him?"

"Who?"

"Severus, even if it isn't him."

"Why not? You are Harry Potter."

Harry rolled his eyes. That had not been any help when he tried to get people to look for Snape.

He ended up with a half dozen children asking for simple clothing. If it was not the Severus he was looking for, Harry would at least cheer up a bunch of children. He also had to shop for Teddy. And the Weasleys, and make sure he got something really nice for Ginny and Mrs. Weasley and George and he should give something really muggle for Mr. Weasley some thought … ah heck, he'd only get Percy something stupid, or should he? Percy was back to being a Weasley and did stay in George's room with him when he stayed over. It was really nice having a family.

Trying to sound innocent, Harry edged over to the lady running this thing and asked, "Is it all right if I take more than one? I feel bad that anyone has to ask for a cloak or red gloves."

"Oh please do, Mr. Potter. Just be sure to either take care of them by the twentieth, or there may be a disappointed child."

"No worries. Actually, I was wondering if I could visit the orphanage. I've been tied up with auror training, but I feel sometimes I'm not giving enough back to the community."

Harry felt a bit bad as he noticed an emotional shine come into the plump witch's eyes, "Any time, Mr. Potter. Many of our children admire you since you too are an orphan."

He had not forgotten that, but being idolized for having no parents … maybe. If it was orphans, it was all right. Living in a Ministry-run building with over a hundred other children must make hope pretty thin on the ground.

It took little effort for Harry to arrange his visit, and he flooed to the orphanage by the end of the week because he did not want to delay finding out if he had found Snape or not.

Harry had asked that his visit not be a big deal. He'd rather see the children during a typical school day, and that way he could interact with them in smaller groups, rather than getting them all together. Hopefully, eight year olds were a small enough group that he'd be able to study them closely.

Actually, Harry got nervous being around so many children. What if he did something wrong? The youngest ones ignored him. That was all right. Harry was not interested in babies, toddlers and whatever the boy found so interesting about trying to shove his drool-covered fist completely in his mouth. Not that he was not interested in them being cared for, he did not want them abused or neglected. They seemed all right, just weren't very interesting.

The next older group was finger painting and at this age, the children were dressed in uniform robes, all in a Ministry shade of purple. Harry was told these children ranged from four to six years old. He noticed their classroom was decorated with a lot of art and poorly executed print writing. The drawings were mostly of animals. Some would make interesting illustrations for _The Quibbler._

Harry next visited the six to eight year olds. He found better printed letters and a variety of subjects for drawings. There was even something with a shock of tall, black hair and a purple, sparking lightning bolt that covered its whole face. He answered some questions while he studied the students. Some had black hair, but none looked like Snape.

There was only one more full class of students left. The older orphans that were squibs got a bit of a raw deal. They were put to work doing some helpful things around the orphanage at the age of twelve. Harry asked questions and was at least relieved that they still had a half-day of class. He wasn't sure if he'd consider their curriculum very helpful. It was more reading, writing, math and history with a large dose of muggle studies to help them transition to a somewhat normal life like Mrs. Figg. Wait, Mrs. Figg was not living a normal life. And if living like a muggle was so great, why didn't Mr. Filch do that?

Harry was shown to the nine through eleven year old classroom with desks arranged in groups of four, but there were no children. They were due back from recess outside in a couple minutes. The headmistress took the time to explain her philosophy regarding children and fresh air. Now Harry understood why they were asking for coats, cloaks, hats and gloves.

The middle-aged witch that taught this class was happy to show Harry their work. She had assignments on the board separated by level since not all the students were at the same place in their studies. He was not sure why art was still such a big deal at this age, but it made the classroom colorful. Harry spotted a couple representations of himself, and one of Nagini's head getting chopped off by him, instead of Neville. He may also be mistaken since the snake was so big that it could probably devour the giant squid and the Loch Ness Monster as appetizers. There were some interesting abstract art with waves of color. Harry moved closer when he realized it visually rippled in waves. 

"How was this done? I have not been exposed to magical art techniques."

"Oh, that boy radiates a lot of accidental magic. He sometimes concentrates a bit too hard on his work."

"Is everyone all right?"

"Of course. It's harmless. Actually, he sometimes catches things that fall in midair. Between that and his thorough home schooling, he ended up in this class, rather than with the eight year olds, for an additional challenge."

Harry found the artist's name written in small print in the lower right corner, and his hope was renewed since it was ' _Severus'_.

"What's Severus's full name?"

"We never use last names here. It may unduly influence an adoption into a new family."

He gave that a moment of thought. That could be good, but on the other hand, it sort of disconnected a child from the family he or she used to have. What if Harry's name was changed to something else like Harry Dursley? Harry liked being a Potter, even if he questioned some of the things his father did during his life. It might also be shocking if Harry did have a different surname and then later in life someone claimed he looked like his dead father, but he did not know they were related, since Harry was so young that he would not know his name was more than Harry, if even that.

A wave of noise preceded the children into the classroom. Even in the cold, recess left them in high spirits. After a tall girl led them in the room and stood aside, Harry realized that the line had been arranged by height. The first student was a girl barely shorter than the boy he was looking for. Snape did not even look at him since the girl in front of him was walking almost backwards and talking to him. Harry knew immediately that it was him from both Snape's and Dumbledore's memories.

Harry stood motionless watching him cross the classroom to a desk in front of the teacher's. His little friend took a seat at a different grouping of desks, also towards the front. He didn't know if his feelings should be hurt since Snape looked at the board and then opened the top of his desk to get whatever he needed out, rather than noticing Harry. Some things never changed. Or maybe they did, three girls sat down in Snape's group and they weren't adverse to talking to him either.

Severus had noticed Harry Potter lurking at the front of their classroom. What nonsense was Saint Potter up to now? Was he going to strut around and tell them all how grateful they should be to the Ministry? Every other week there was some nitwit in here checking on them and telling them how wonderful it was for them to be orphans with the Ministry to take care of them. Shacklebolt was no different than any of the others. Potter was even posing in front of the Minister's portrait that was high up on the wall to protect it, in addition to the anti-vandalism magic on it.

To annoy Potter, Severus had gotten Alice going when they walked in by asking her a simple question. She was a talker. He also chatted with the girls that sat with him in class. Severus had not been trying too hard to fit in, but he enjoyed some company when he was so surrounded by others that would be at Hogwarts with him the second time around. If any rich snob thought they could push him around this time, they'd find out he had made allies in all four houses in advance. No matter what house they were sorted in, dead mother jokes would not be funny.

He had his own skills, but Severus did not receive anything but punishments then, even when he did not do anything truly hurtful or when he only defended himself, rather than waiting to ambush the stupid Marauders. He definitely could not count on the staff being lenient. They might decide to remold him while they thought they had him under their thumbs for seven years. No one saw their real selves better than him that horrible year he had been headmaster. They were no friends of his. Never had been. What exceptions would the good, yet very strict, Headmistress McGonagall make for him? Would he even be allowed to be sorted into Slytherin? Would Mr. Filch be allowed to bring back his preferred method of punishing students since Severus was a special case? Would he even be allowed to set foot in Hogsmeade? Though that was the least of his worries, he didn't bother the first time he was a student since he had no pocket money. There were no butterbeers and candy for children with no money.

He also kept his mind occluded and was making many delightful and happy memories to fill it, even if he felt reluctant to take advantage of young children. Childhood friendship was special, and Severus was only mimicking reciprocating their feelings. Severus kept in mind he would be ready when he met Albus Dumbledore again, ready to show how much he loved being in an orphanage. It was infinitely better than being a student at Hogwarts. Now he also had a teacher who thought he was special and encouraged him. Severus did not overdo it with anything that a child would not be capable of doing occasionally. He also pretended he never held a wand so had to rethink things in order to perform a bit of wandless magic.

It felt strange to have people who considered him as a friend, since it seemed the Wizengamot and Minsitry were on a rampage against whoever they thought was a dark wizard, other than the Malfoys. Lucius was largely responsible for how nice the orphanage was. He donated the building and land, besides providing a great deal of funding. Of course, Severus was more than happy that the Malfoys kept their distance from the filthy orphans housed here.

He was not sure if his name was kept almost classified with regards to the war against the Dark Lord. Harry Potter was the hero and he had the support of many people to try to bring him out of hiding. Was Dumbledore not fooled by his act? Or just too busy now that Severus was no longer usable as a child? His plan could be to recruit him all over again. Severus could pretend to be flattered for a short while before he suddenly appeared to think for himself which would label him a traitor all over again.

Overall, Severus was satisfied with his second childhood since an orphanage was preferable to Azkaban. He was fed three real meals a day, not beaten, and they all had the same sort of robes so no one mocked his clothing. If he was not aware that he was not really a child, Severus would have found the orphanage to be paradise after Spinner's End.

Their teacher introduced the famous Harry Potter and the little dunderheads clapped. Severus had already established that he knew next to nothing regarding current events, in case someone found him.

What he wanted to know was where was the photographer, or had they already gotten their shots with the younger and more adorable children?

Since Harry was used to saying normal things, rather than grand political speeches, speaking to preteens was easy enough. Snape was doing a good job at not caring and even made faces at some of the girls. How could he dislike him now? He had not gone to school with James Potter yet, and if he regained his memories, Snape would not be sitting in an orphanage coloring and enjoying recess.

During his talk and questions, Harry tried to catch Snape's eye while trying not to ignore the other children, but Snape was looking anywhere but at him. Perversely, Harry tried to get Snape in trouble by pointing at him and asking, "Can you recall the names of my friends who helped me defeat He Who Must Not Be Named?" Harry knew better than to say 'Voldemort' in front of children.

Harry smirked as Snape's eyebrow cocked in response, then actually laughed when he replied, "Why the bloody hell would I care?"

He was not sure if the children were laughing with him, or it was some sort of joke amongst them, but their teacher shushed them quickly while whispering, "Don't mind him. He is horrendous at modern history."

Modern history? If only Snape would author history texts, Harry thought whimsically. He would then be addressed as 'Harry Who'?

After a rousing series of questions that were more detailed than those of the younger children, Harry considered he liked these questions a lot more than ones from reporters. After seeing some of the things that got printed, Harry had no patience with that profession, even now that they were supposedly on his side. If _The Prophet_ was in the Ministry's pocket, why was he attacked whenever they thought up some new and utterly ridiculous idea? Harry worked for the Ministry and as an auror trainee, he was behaving himself, but the stories in the paper made him out to be an embarrassment at times.

The headmistress had entered the room and waited till Harry answered some final questions, before escorting him out.

While walking alongside the stout, past middle age, witch, Harry asked, "I was thinking … how difficult would it be to adopt a child from here?"

Seized with the opportunity to highlight the Ministry's efforts to find all these poor children suitable homes, or at least to reduce the burden and creatively make Mr. Malfoy's generous contributions be funneled to other worthy causes, the headmistress restrained herself and commented, "There are a lot of forms, and some invasive questions. These little lambs have known so much pain already," knowing that if Harry Potter wanted something done, it would be done.

"Yes," Harry agreed, ready to try out a few things he had learned. "I was only wondering … you know maybe I was just overcome by their simple Christmas requests and seeing them in person. I shouldn't be so impulsive."

"Without you, Mr. Potter, I'm sure my hands would be full with many more unfortunate angels by now."

He restrained his impulse to smile. She was willing to make an exception for him? Harry knew that he was not ideal parent material at this point in his life, however Snape was not getting any younger, or at least he hoped not. Dumbledore never did explain what happened that both he and Snape were no longer dead.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 4

The headmistress escorted Harry to her office and went into her sales pitch.

"With younger children, it is easy for them to simply forget all the unpleasantness in their past. With some careful planning, you may even convince them for years that they are yours. I have a couple of adorable little girls with green eyes."

"Well, I was thinking of a boy."

"I'm not sure if we have any with green eyes, but let me see. I have a book put together for prospective parents. At the very least, black hair."

"Um …" Harry replied, stalling for time or even some idea of what she had in mind. Should he come right out and say he wanted Snape? He also had the sudden thought that someone else also connected could just swoop in and grab him. It was really for Snape's protection that Harry adopt him rather than someone like Malfoy or worse.

The headmistress turned her current photo album in Mr. Potter's direction to flip the pages for him so he could find the right boy. She had over a dozen that were daring and would probably take to quidditch, which everyone knew was Harry Potter's favorite sport.

As the pages were turned by the headmistress while she gave a favorable commentary on each possible child, Harry was disappointed that older children were not shown. He was not looking to convince a child that they were his natural child. He just wanted Snape to be safe. He spent so many years protecting Harry that it was the least he could do in return. Once he went to Hogwarts, Harry only needed to see him for holidays, if that's all he wanted. Even if Snape was terrible and hated him, Harry could put up with it till he was eleven.

"This one?" the headmistress asked, finally seeing a bit of a smile on Mr. Potter's face.

"Huh? Oh no. Um, I … I don't know, but I'm not looking for someone as young as these."

Harry should not have been surprised that she had another photo album, but Severus was not among her favored candidates.

With thoughts of Mr. Tibbles in mind, Harry did not want to see another photo album so dared to suggest, "That boy Severus is interesting."

"Severus? Well, you certainly would not have to worry about him turning out to be a squib, Mr. Potter. However, he's a bit emotional. He would be too much for a single man to handle."

Emotional? Harry could call Snape lots of things, but emotional was hardly one of them. Sometimes he was angry, but that did not count. Was that some polite way of talking him out of adopting Snape and picking one of her poor little lambs? Perhaps Snape already had an extensive vocabulary and insulted the headmistress constantly, therefore he was never suggested as a good candidate. Or maybe not, if she wanted nice parents to adopt nice children, it would not do for Snape to insult his new parents and their acquaintances either.

"Maybe it's just a silly whim of mine," Harry admitted. "With his name being Severus."

When the headmistress showed no sign of recognizing why anyone with the name Severus would mean something to Harry, he added, "Like Severus Snape."

"The Death Eater?"

"He was not a Death Eater. Severus Snape saved my life time and again and worked tirelessly for Albus Dumbledore. Without him, we would have lost. He provided me with valuable information and even advised me regarding that final battle."

The headmistress appeared skeptical, but did comment, "A whim is not a valid reason to choose a child for adoption, Mr. Potter."

"Perhaps those black eyes and hair, along with that smirk, are too much for me to resist." Harry decided to gamble, "I was told he's a bright student. At the very least, I would like someone who's that kind of bright both scholastically and magically to make me look good."

"No, not him. Severus has expressed no interest in getting adopted. The poor boy is very persistent in thinking his parents may still be alive. Perhaps you can speak to him for a couple minutes after lunch, here in my office."

"But …," Harry was not sure if the headmistress would be this difficult if someone else wanted Snape. He had looked fine and perhaps happy, so it was not that this place was bad for him, but if anyone that threw a few galleons or even an _imperius_ could waltz in and snatch him, especially with everyone acting so clueless as to who he really was, Harry had to get him out of here, "isn't the orphanage's purpose to find homes for the children here?"

"I would prioritize children that want to be placed in a home. By the way, you have not mentioned anything about yours."

"I was waiting to be asked, or to fill out a form. My current living arrangements would actually be beneficial," Harry replied, laying it on thick. "I don't live on my own. I live with the Weasleys, and I have to say Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are like parents to me, besides raising their own wonderful family. If Severus needs an ear while I'm away for the day with auror training, he won't be alone."

"The Weasleys? I am familiar with them from what I read in the newspaper about Ronald and Arthur. What occupations do their older children have?"

"In addition to multiple Hogwarts head boys, prefects and quidditch captains?" Harry countered, afraid that Weasley Wizard Wheezes might trump the older sons' fine careers. "Percy worked his way up through the Ministry and is still quite young, mind you. He worked directly with Cornelius Fudge, and is still working with the Minister's office. A fine example of where hard work and patriotic duty can lead. Bill is a curse breaker for Gringotts, and may have been a bit wild when he worked for them in Egypt, but now works for the London branch besides settling down to marry the Beauxbatons Triwizard Champion."

Harry was keeping in mind that he was not strictly committing that the Weasleys would help him with Severus, especially since he had not talked to them regarding his sudden impulse to adopt Snape. Ron had tried to tell him that the Severus at the orphanage could not possibly be the one he was looking for since the Ministry could not find him.

The headmistress nodded briefly in response.

When the pause in the conversation grew awkwardly long, Harry asked, "Well?"

"Perhaps you should take some time to think this over, Mr. Potter. Impulsive adoptions are not recommended."

"No, I mean, yes, it is sudden, but Severus is definitely the one I have in mind."

She gave a slight negative shake with her head and commented, "Don't get your hopes up, Mr. Potter. Severus is a bit of an odd duck. There are other boys around that age that would be happy for the opportunity you are offering."

"No, I'm pretty sure. Can I speak to him now?"

"Now? It's lunch. That boy turns surly when his playtime is interrupted for an unscheduled reason. I can get the lot of them to stop and go outside since that's part of the day's schedule, even on the weekends."

"Don't they get to play outside too?"

"They do, but I split the ones that play the history game up to talk to other children. They've made their game increasingly complex as the months have gone by, but they always let someone new play, so they aren't snubbing anyone."

"History game?"

"They're bored and got around to using their imaginations. For the first couple weeks, they played a precursor to this game with a Robin Hood setting, and that's how this game evolved as an improved version. There were students as Robin Hood and all his men, and Maid Marian, then a couple who volunteered to be Prince John and the Sheriff. With the Prince and Sheriff not having anything else to do in the game than to lay waste to Sherwood Forest, the bulk of the players were not enjoying it so much because they could not interact for fun things, and they came to understand that they could not invite their friends as the Prince and Sheriff to join them for a victory feast so that's where the idea came up to play two different characters, one good and the other either neutral or somewhat of a bad guy, so they could still have friendship while having some strategy and conflict activities. They've also learned that if they want to overcome a large obstacle, they need to form alliances."

"Conflict?"

"Yes, the Norse, Picts, Saxons, Celts, Gauls and Romans all love invading Britain or causing some sort of mischief. There is also a Morgaine working against King Arthur and his knights. As I said, their imaginations have made it all quite complex. However, they all research their parts and do put effort into acting appropriately and also schooling their fellow players on their historical significance and what motivates them. On rare occasion, I am Merlin. Any of the staff can be the Lady of the Lake."

"You play?"

"Not really, they do go for a bit of historical accuracy, so it's all right for Merlin to disappear for long periods of time. There are also a group of older children who supervise and render a judgment when there is a dispute or needs to blindly judge the outcome of a conflict. They also felt to balance the game if someone consistently played Merlin, that someone else would need to play an equally powerful character to oppose him. Besides, Merlin is boring."

"Boring?"

"Well yes. If someone was Merlin, they would not have to play anything except to say that they came along and fixed something with magic."

"So they are interested in keeping everything in balance?" 

"It's difficult to explain. They play by a sort of consensus, but I've observed a definite ability for them to assume their own roles, without having someone tell them what to do."

"But you said they have conflicts."

"They play it as a continuing story so conflict makes the plot interesting. The major plot elements are announced in advance so players have the option of involving themselves."

"When do they play? At lunch every day?"

"It depends. They do some playing at lunch and during their evening free time, but try to plan an event to occur on a weekend so there's notice to those that might want to be involved or watch."

"So they'll be playing at lunch today?"

"Not much. There is a small group that usually plays every day, but they are polite enough to not pick on someone not present. Participation is optional, and they don't seem to mind if other players want to eat with siblings or different friends."

"Can I watch?"

"If you want to eat with the children, they have empty seats for lunch at the 'war table'. When they play in the evening or plan something like a weekend invasion, they bring more tables and chairs over so anyone that wants to play or watch is welcome."

"They plan for an invasion?"

"Yes, so if someone wants to just happen to have their character in the area when the Norse or Gauls land, that gives them days to announce their intentions to travel or quest in the area."

"What do they do to stop Vikings?"

"That all depends. Sir Galahad and St. Patrick approached them under a white flag and attempted to convince them to leave a monastery in peace and tried to convert them to Christianity last time."

"Really?"

"The Norse insulted the two, Sir Galahad challenged their leader to a duel with the condition that if the Viking lost, he and all his men would be promptly baptized and take the word of God back to their people. The duel was refused and they were threatened. Sir Galahad declared these Norse without honor, defended himself and the saint, and called for his friends that were watching to aid him. That led to Bors, Kay and Palamedes riding down from their vantage point on a hill and between the four knights, the monastery was saved. It sounds a lot more thrilling than it was. That brief summary was actually their entire weekend or two afternoons of playing, followed by an evening at Camelot to inform King Arthur of their encounter."

"Do they have enough time for their studies?"

"Actually, they do. It's surprising how much time a typical child does not spend studying, once you factor in all their other activities. I do send them outside for breaks when they are in the midst of this, and split them up so I don't have the children that play Galahad, Kay, Palamedes and Bors standing around talking over at four squares together."

Harry laughed at the thought of King Arthur's knights playing children's games.

"Lunch is about to begin. Severus usually sits at the 'war table'."

"Why is it called the war table?"

With a rueful shake of her head, the headmistress replied, "All their campaign maps. They've taken over that corner of the room with their props also. Yes, props. They even do a bit of dress-up so they can start each sentence without the name of their character."

The headmistress led Harry downstairs to a room that may have been a ballroom previously because of the high ceiling. If it was an enormous dining room, the ceiling did not have to be that high. There was a railed gallery overhead, about half way up the wall, with doors that opened presumably to the floor above this one.

There was more artwork displayed on the walls, and Christmas decorations were added. There was a montage of about a hundred snowflakes cut out of white paper.

"We'll have more holiday art projects as we get closer to the 25th," the headmistress mentioned. "I'm trying to avoid weeks of Christmas anticipation. Come along, we're allowed to cut the line."

"All right," Harry replied, looking at the far corner, where tables were pushed together to form a big rectangle of seating. Even with his glasses, he guessed he was looking at maps on the walls, along with a lot of other things. The only thing he could make out were banners hung on the base of the gallery. Some had huge lettering so Harry could see ones that proclaimed 'Free Boudica' and 'Camelot is Everywhere', another instructed 'Obey the Emperor', with an opposing one next to it that suggested 'Sack and Burn Rome'.

Besides a couple taller students instructing younger ones to stay in line, there were house elves serving food and drinks.

"You have house elves?"

"Yes, some of our children inherited them. They keep things tidy and running smoothly, which we wouldn't be able to do if we had the children performing all the chores to keep the place neat. The students do minor things like making their beds, keeping their things tidy, sweeping, cleaning black boards and wiping down desks."

What did the Ministry pay for here? The food, robes and salaries for staff, or did Malfoy pay for that too?

Harry was happy he was given a choice between different foods, and none of it looked bad or unidentifiable. Much better than his grammar school lunch, which Harry had actually enjoyed because he was hungry when he lived with the Dursleys. That was back when he thought anything tasted better with a bit of catsup.

The headmistress also got a tray, a plateful of lunch and a beverage and led the way out of the kitchen area. Harry saw that the looks and pointing were at him, rather than her. He saw some teachers at a small table of their own so perhaps the staff also ate meals with the students, even if they were not at a head table like at Hogwarts.

Only the youngest children had teens standing behind them, and Harry observed one elbow in to cut up a pork chop.

Some children had already made it to the table they were headed for, and the headmistress suggested, "If we stay at this end, they won't have to lean forward to talk around us. Nina is at the other end, and they all need to address matters to her, besides Sophie next to her taking notes."

Harry took note of the two older girls that looked about second year and fifth year in age. Other children had put their trays down, but were searching through some of the large bureaus that looked out of place in a cafeteria setting. There was a map of the British Isles, Europe and then one of the entire world.

There were also a lot of things on the wall that Harry supposed were for the individual characters. He squinted to make out everything that was listed underneath 'Roman Emperor Severus ~ _Evinco orbis terrarum'._

1\. Continue expanding the Roman Empire and maintain a strong, unstoppable army

2\. Strengthen the current Roman Empire through building roads and public works such as aqueducts, bringing education to those capable of understanding it, rewarding retired soldiers with farms throughout the empire (including Brittania),

3\. Be nice to the Egyptians. They have knowledge that We need.

4\. Be nice to the Greeks. They have knowledge the We need.

5\. Spy on the Persian Empire.

6\. Find the source of the Nile

7\. Investigate rumors about the lost civilization of Atlantis

8\. Have fun! We are Emperor of the greatest empire of all time and We expect spectacular entertainments.

"What's with the lists?"

"That is in case someone is unavailable, and also to reiterate things they don't feel like repeating every time they get together."

"Severus is the emperor who wants obedience?" Harry asked and pointed up at the banner.

"Yes, but no one does."

Harry saw Severus now that he was not one of the students bending over. He brought an armful of things to a chair in the middle of the table with a tray already placed on it, and put them on the floor. Ignoring him, Severus asked his question of the two older girls, "Knights first or the other way around?"

"I don't think Arthur has any plans right now, so you might as well be Severus first."

"All right," he responded and bent down to retrieve a long length of deep purple cloth, darker than the Ministry robes they wore. He draped it over his chair and then sat upon it.

Harry smirked as Severus put a make-believe helmet on his head that had the bottom of a red bristled broom facing upwards stuck to the top of it.

Others were putting on crowns, cloaks, and headbands before they sat.

Severus saw that Potter was over here with the headmistress. What was going on now? Their silly game did have enough education involved with it, and no one ever got hurt, except that sometimes their feelings were bruised when they felt things should have gone their way. Severus simply played along and sort of liked there was no winners or losers, since even when something went badly for one person, they could try a new idea the following week.

What did Potter expect from him? To sit by himself with only a potion book for company?

The headmistress explained, "Mr. Potter heard about your historical game and wanted to see it."

Harry noticed that Snape was not the only one making a face at him. He was not here to make fun of them.

Nina took a sip out of her glass, before she said, "All right then. Let's begin," she slowly moved her finger down the children seated opposite Severus till one of the girls nodded, "with Morgaine."

The girl reminded Harry of Millicent Bullstrode in looks and build, but not as beefy, if that was appropriate word for a girl.

She looked across the table and asked, "Severus, have you received and considered my proposal?"

When he did not answer immediately, she added, "Yo Emperor."

Severus put up a finger to get a moment, finished chewing and took a drink of milk.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I didn't know I'd be called on. With regards to the proposed alliance with Morgaine against her brother, King Arthur, We did receive your missive. We choose not to answer it since your tribute was paltry, and We see no reason to involve Ourselves in a dispute between siblings. The Roman Empire already has an agreement with King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot."

"You have broken truces and agreements before," was Morgaine's reply.

"A truce is in effect until We say it is not, madam. My word is law."

Morgaine laughed and conceded, "All right."

Nina interjected, "Do you have anything else, Severus?"

"Me? The emperor is bored, I think. Anything out of Boudica to relieve my dull day?"

"You wish," hissed a girl that may be old enough to be a first year this September. "You'll regret the day you allowed me to live, you insipid buggerer of farm animals."

"I guess not," Severus replied.

"I did offer to seduce you," Boudica answered in a pleasant voice.

"No way," Severus replied. "Why would I let you anywhere near my person? You are a filthy barbarian in addition to being a crazed, middle-aged, menopausal woman. If you let me kill you off, you could be Cleopatra. I might let her near me."

"Don't get your hopes up, toga boy."

Nina's finger extended again and continued, when it passed the end of the table, Harry asked, "Can I play too?"

"As …?" Nina asked.

"Uh, do you have a Godric Gryffindor?"

Harry guessed that was not a good idea since every one of them made a face.

Snape stuck his fist out in front of him, extended his thumb and then turned it downwards.

The headmistress laughed, "Mr. Potter said nothing about fighting in the Coliseum."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 5

Sophie whispered something to Nina. When combined with the children's looks of disgust at him, besides Emperor Severus giving him the thumbs down, Harry sort of felt like he was back in school himself as the last ever chosen for team, due to Dudley. He was sure they were not going to allow him to play.

It was Sophie that gave him an opening. She asked, "At the moment, liberating Boudica from the Romans is high on our priorities. Do you have some idea of how you could do that?"

"Uh, I'm not sure," Harry glanced at the headmistress for assistance.

"Don't involve Merlin," was the suggestion from her.

"I don't know," Harry said with a shrug.

The students gathered at the table smiled and a number of them pushed their lunch to the side and started writing.

Nina held out a hand, "Wait, Mr. Potter does not know the rules. If you want to play and you sit around saying you don't know what to do, you face a penalty of having other players suggest courses of action. Do you wish to retract your 'I don't know'?"

"I can play?"

"Yes, you can play, but don't you want to come up with your own idea to save Boudica? She's a prisoner in Rome."

"Won't Severus try to stop me?"

"No, Elizabeth is unable to do anything with Boudica till she's freed. She can't have her revenge in prison," Severus replied in a tone that conveyed what an idiot he thought Potter was. Harry recognized the intent immediately, even with Snape's voice sounding like a child's rather than a hammer wrapped in silk.

The headmistress whispered loudly, "The game is not about winning. Everyone wants Boudica out of prison, however she has to be rescued in a sensible manner."

"So I can't say Gryffindor just goes in and gets her out?"

"No," replied Morgaine, or whatever her real name was.

"Boring," added Boudica or Elizabeth.

Harry looked at Snape for a clue, but he had returned to writing quickly. Others were also writing with occasional pauses to look in his direction.

The headmistress reminded them, "Nothing too elaborate. You are on lunch, and Mr. Potter's time is valuable."

Severus turned his sheet of parchment over and continued writing. So Harry Potter pictured himself as Godric Gryffindor? Not bloody likely. Why was Potter such a git by following him to an orphanage and insisting on playing their game? He had not the barest imagination nor intelligence to play something like this. This wasn't quidditch. Severus doubted Harry Potter could handle playing house with a couple of little girls because he'd crave something bizarre like playing that their house caught on fire and claiming to save them and all the dolls.

Sheets of paper were passed down to Nina and Sophie.

Harry asked, "Don't I get to choose?"

"In a moment, we want to make sure nothing objectionable is in here."

Severus was the last to complete his and promptly handed it in, without even bothering to smirk or look in Harry's direction. He wondered if he would even know what Severus wrote if someone looked it over for bad things first.

While they read that one, two of the suggestions were passed down.

 _Godric Gryffindor really loves taking baths with other men and decided to join some Greek chappies claiming they were philosophers in Rome for a rousing bit of washing since the baths there are world-renowned. While he was in the middle of a splash fight, a meteor came hurtling out of the sky, disturbing the bathers and crashing into the wall of the jail next door, freeing Boudica. Gryffindor immediately rushes to the queen's aid when he hears the guards yelling. Upon seeing the red-bearded berserking warrior in action. Boudica retains a cool head and throws him the small bit of sheet from her prison cot to cover his red, hairy, miniscule bits. Boudica will think of a way to escape Rome since Gryffindor is an idiot._

Harry was perplexed. This was written on one side of a parchment, but he knew Severus wrote more than this. Who would say something like this about Gryffindor, other than a Slytherin?

 _Tired of Godric Gryffindor, the other Hogwarts founders drug and sell him as a slave in order to get rid of him. Since Gryffindor is only good at fighting, he ends up in Rome to fight in the Coliseum. As an entertainment for Emperor Severus and the masses, Gryffindor is locked in a cage with Boudica to fight. Boudica easily kicks Gryffindor's rear and while he is laying on the ground bleeding and huffing into the bloody sand, Boudica whispers in his ear to play dead and they may have a chance to escape._

Perhaps Elizabeth/Boudica wrote this one? Or did she write the first one with the meteor?

Harry was then handed the last suggestion that consisted of both sides of two pages that was written by Severus.

 _In the time of the Founders, the four of them were gathered to give a history lesson. When the subject of England's early queen, Boudica, came up, they disagreed over what made her important and what caused her downfall._

 _Helga Hufflepuff claimed, "Boudica was a passionate woman who loved her family and people so much, she would do anything for them. That is what made her great."_

 _Salazar Slytherin shrugged his agreement but added the comment, "That is why she failed."_

" _I concur," Rowena Ravenclaw nodded. "If she took the time to study the tactics of the Romans, she could have devised a plan to defeat them."_

 _Godric Gryffindor scoffed, "Who cares? She was a woman, and therefore could not even begin to comprehend the smallest thing about warfare."_

" _I disagree strongly," Salazar replied out of habit._

" _What proof do you have to back your wild hypothesis?" Rowena demanded._

" _What proof? She lost and was captured by the Romans," laughed Godric._

 _Helga Hufflepuff rolled her eyes and mocked, "You have occasionally lost, Godric. Does that make you a woman?"_

" _Ha! I'd like to see the woman capable of growing such a luxurious beard."_

" _Besides your mother?" Salazar queried._

 _Clenching his fists, Godric rose demanding, "What?"_

" _Sorry, I did not mean to slight your aunt and grandmother, or any female of your noble house. Their beards are also admirable."_

" _How dare you!" Godric responded, drawing his wand. "Your mother looks like a monkey."_

 _Used to such behavior, Salazar was prepared to defend himself._

 _Hogwarts students ignored their shenanigans since Rowena Ravenclaw was the one who wrote the tests, and Helga Hufflepuff was the one who generously graded them._

 _One of the students raised her hand and when called upon, asked, "What happened to Boudica after she was captured by the Romans?"_

" _She was taken to Rome and put on display as a spectacle," Rowena replied.  
_

" _Did they kill her?" Helga asked._

" _No one knows."_

 _With a glance towards the door as Gryffindor and Slytherin took their dispute out of the room, Helga speculated, "Maybe another woman rescued her. What do you say?"  
_

" _There is no historical proof of such a thing, Mistress Hufflepuff."_

" _Of course not, that's because the Romans wrote the history we use. They wouldn't publicize her escape. I think I should rescue her."_

 _Rowena sighed. Another one of Helga's crusades. She was worse than Gryffindor, except she had brains._

 _Helga Hufflepuff saves Boudica by traveling back in time to Rome and negotiating for her release with the Emperor. Time travel is made possible with Ravenclaw's aid and knowledge._

Hufflepuff? Was Snape suggesting he play Hufflepuff in order to be insulting?

"This one's quite thorough, but I can't play Hufflepuff."

"Hufflepuff?" repeated Elizabeth or Boudica. "I would prefer Hufflepuff save me than a muscle bound ninny."

"Gryffindor is a wizard," Harry argued.

"Yeah, and there's Roman, Greek and Egyptian wizards all working for the Empire. Gryffindor is not so powerful that he could simply walk up the street and blast open Boudica's prison."

"I don't have to. There's a suggestion here that a meteor strikes and knocks down the wall of your prison."

An impish looking boy, older than Severus, interrupted, "I retract my idea if you do not use it in its entirety."

Harry made a face as he glanced at it again. Gryffindor taking a bath with other guys and then fighting naked? Wouldn't the headmistress find that inappropriate?

Severus complained, "I wish you'd stop dropping meteors on Rome."

The lad replied with a shrug, "You seem to handle them well."

"Meteors, flood, volcano and earthquake. You should pick on another city for the next disaster, if you absolutely must have another one."

"All right, I'll play as Helga Hufflepuff," Harry conceded.

"Let's get going so we can finish this before lunch is over," Nina insisted.

Sophie was already writing something in a journal that detailed their joint story.

Everyone was looking at Harry now.

"Uh … well, I'm Helga Hufflepuff, and with the help of Rowena Ravenclaw … wait, I guess I should read what happened first so they know why she's here?"

The headmistress asked, "Do you already know what you're doing first, or do you need time to think, Mr. Potter?"

"Um … I guess I need to come up with a plan."

"I'll read it aloud for you."

"Thanks."

While the headmistress read the preliminaries about why Helga Hufflepuff was going to save Boudica, Harry tried to think of what he was supposed to do.

Seeing Potter trying to think and access his limited imagination reminded Severus of Crabbe and Goyle.

Geoffrey changed into his King Arthur outfit, complete with silly huge crown, and signaled for the knights present to join him. Severus pointed at himself, since he also needed to be the Roman emperor. He received an affirmative nod so took off his helm and donned his tabard and golden headband.

Harry was hoping the change of costumes would help him. Severus was one of the least ridiculous since he did not have a play sword or ax. The vest he put on just had a simple cross on the front.

The headmistress finished reading the discussion among the Founders, and once again, all eyes were on Harry.

"Ok, so I'm Helga Hufflepuff and I've come back in time to negotiate for Boudica to be freed."

Seeing that they were waiting expectantly for him to say more, Harry asked, "So what do I do?"

"You either tell us what you have Helga do, or we can help you get on your way to Rome."

"Help me?"

"Yeah," Geoffrey replied. "We can take a turn playing and mention you so you can think something up. If we say something you don't like about Helga, other than our opinion regarding her appearance, which is an established fact, then you can interrupt."

"Uh, all right."

He saw Severus was in the middle of rolling his eyes, when Geoffrey changed his posture, and inquired, "What news have you, my knights?"

The knights were not full of news so were individually asked by who Harry guessed was playing King Arthur what they were doing.

Severus responded to Sir Galahad in the roll call, "I remain chaste and continue my search for the Grail, my liege."

Harry could not help snickering. He had no knowledge of an adult Snape being anything but chaste, but it sounded odd for a young boy to say it.

It was amusing to Potter that he could be playing Sir Galahad, rather than the king's fool or village idiot?

"During your travels, Sir Galahad, did you happen to be in Scotland where there was rumor of a new witch?"

Annoyed that Potter was unable to do anything without Granger hissing at him, Severus chose to shorten their agony by responding, "Alas, your Highness, I did not see the woman for myself, but peasants in Woodcroft claim that there was a flash of light, brighter than the moon, that lit the night sky. It was brief, but blinded them temporarily. Once their sight was restored, they claim to have seen a ginger-haired, rotund woman of advanced child-bearing years wearing rich robes, deep yellow in color. Even stranger is they asserted she had a golden chariot that was drawn by two enormous black badgers. She spoke to them with a strange accent to inquire where she was, nodded her thanks, then commanded her steeds to head southeast. The unusual steeds briefly pawed at the dirt, before breaking into a run and ascending into the sky."

Harry's mouth dropped open. Snape was helping him? That flying chariot being pulled by badgers sounded kind of cool. Was it common to have flying vehicles like the Beauxbatons carriage?

The knights all assumed thoughtful poses, with a few stroking their chins, even though they did not have beards at this age.

"Could this woman be an ally of your sister's?"

Harry was confused since it was the girl who played Morgaine that asked.

King Arthur gave his head a shake before replying, "I hope not, my fair Guinevere. Morgaine alone is trouble enough even for the mighty Merlin."

Harry bit his tongue. She was too ugly to be Morgaine, but Guinevere too? The boy playing King Arthur must be blind if he called her 'fair'.

"Is that enough to get Helga to Rome?" asked Nina.

"Uh, yeah," Harry answered. "I uh … fly to Rome."

He saw Severus huff as he put his helm back on.

"So I get there?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you can get there," Nina answered.

"Okay."

They looked at him, then Elizabeth suggested, "The Emperor might be pleased if you describe the wonderful architecture of his capital."

"Right, uh, the Coliseum is really spectacular."

Severus lolled his head backwards and let his mouth drop open. Potter probably thought that doubled as a quidditch stadium so it was the only place of interest in Rome to him.

"I don't know what else is there," Harry admitted.

"Never mind," Severus quipped as he sat up. "The Pantheon is only a building, and the Arch of Septimius Severus is located in the Forum Romanum."

"Maybe I could be present for this?" Elizabeth asked.

"I guess," Severus grudgingly agreed. "Having too much wine to drink at a feast, Caesar requests the foulest of his barbaric prisoners, Boudica, be brought in to entertain him. He finds her singing to be pitiful and demands she dance for his pleasure."

"Severus," complained Elizabeth.

"You prefer to do coin tricks?"

"No, Boudica will refuse to demean herself, but some well placed and frequent stinging jinxes will keep Boudica jiggling."

"Very well," Severus agreed.

"Is she dressed?" Elizabeth asked.

"She is unless the guests at the feast desire to vomit."

They all looked at Harry again.

"My turn?" he asked. 

"Yes, briefly explain how you enter the feast, and then start talking to us," Elizabeth answered.

"Using a tracer spell, Helga tracks down Boudica. Having found the building, and finding it guarded, since the emperor is there, she resorts to nonlethal force to enter and asks her badgers to guard the chariot and be ready to leave quickly, in case things go tits up. So Helga goes in and sees some sort of celebration in progress and realizes that her spell is pointing to a half-undressed woman dancing poorly on a tabletop," Harry hoped he sounded like he was getting the hang of this. He understood it, but did not have the practice the children did.

Elizabeth commented, "Boudica thinks the new arrival is yet another entertainment for the perpetually bored and spoiled Severus and ignores Helga."

Harry looked at her. She said she wanted to be here to help. Ignoring him was not helping.

The headmistress reminded them, "Please speed it up, lunch will end soon."

Severus's helm leaned more than his head in response so his eyes were not visible to Harry anymore, but it was in his direction. Harry listened as he suggested, "Perhaps we gloss over, how Helga Hufflepuff _confunds_ a few guards, smiles and is pleasing in manner to the drunken revelers and somehow gets close enough to address Caesar? Agreement is she would not do anything to harm anyone to obtain that opportunity, and she is skilled enough to not do it openly in front of any sorcerers present?"

"Agreed," Elizabeth commented.

"Agreed," was repeated by King Arthur, Guinevere and others that Harry could not remember who they were playing.

Nina urged, "Go ahead, Helga. You now have the opportunity to either speak to Emperor Severus, or Boudica separately, and may even attempt to free her now that enough guards are no longer observant."

Harry was given a choice. Should he just tell her to run for it and follow him out the door? He asked, "Do I notice anything that might cause a problem if I wanted to run out with Boudica?"

Elizabeth reminded him, "Boudica does not know you. She is also getting hit with stinging hexes every time she tries to stop dancing … by the way, she's not dancing very well so maybe people are no longer watching her."

"So whoever's hexing her could trip her if she tries to get out of there?" Harry guessed.

He received a nod in return.

"I recognize Severus because he's … in the middle?"

"He's wearing purple trimmed in gold and a crown of gold laurel leaves," Severus replied. "No one else is dressed in purple. The tables are lower than these, and they kind of sprawl on divans while feasting in Rome. Decadent?"

"Yes," the headmistress agreed.

"All right, decadent and lazy then," Severus repeated.

"Uh, I try to get in front of him where I can be seen, and make a very respectful bow."

"I nod at you."

"I greet you with 'Almighty Caesar, I have traveled far to appeal to your good sense to let poor Boudica go free.'

"In what language?"

"English?"

"This character does not speak English, but Boudica should understand you somewhat, even though you live centuries apart."

Elizabeth agreed, "Yes, you speaking in English does get Boudica's attention. To Severus it would sound like animalistic grunts, since he speaks Latin and probably Greek? Anyway, I would tell Helga, 'Don't be an idiot, talking to him like that. He's Caesar. You better have an excellent gift if you even want to _discuss_ freeing me'."

"Gift?" Harry repeated.

"A tribute," Severus suggested.

"Um, all right. I have a small, finely wrought gold cup with two handles. There's a badger engraved on each side and there's a few jewels on it. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds."

Severus removed his helmet and doubtfully asked, "A gold cup with gems?"

"It's something that I know was Hufflepuff's," Harry answered.

"Maybe give it some elaborate powers, if it's too plain," he replied, before putting his helm back on.

"So in Latin, I say, 'Great Caesar, I have traveled far to present you with this cup. It fills itself with a neverending supply of fine wine'."

Severus laughed, "You could have said so before. All right, I would reply, 'who are you, stranger, who brings such a wondrous gift'?"

"I am a humble educator of magic in the far North to gifted children."

"Why have you traveled so far to present me with such tribute?"

"Although Queen Boudica's actions against your bountiful empire were horrendous, she is much loved by her people, including some of my students. Considering how all powerful you are, Caesar, could you not allow her to return home, rather than keeping her here as your plaything?"

"After the emperor consults quietly for a moment with a bearded man in a long, white toga, he addresses you, 'Unlike Boudica, you appear to be an honest, virtuous woman. It is a shame that she has misguided you into this act of loyalty'."

"My first loyalty is to Caesar," Harry replied. "I am not one of Queen Boudica's subjects."

"She has ordered the death of my loyal legions."

"They raped and killed my daughters," disputed Elizabeth.

Harry felt that sort of subject matter should not be part of a children's game, but continued, "Uh, Helga holds up her hands in a peaceful gesture, and implores, 'A terrible deed, I agree. Do you now consider your revenge complete against the soldiers that committed those crimes'?"

Elizabeth shrugged and said, "I guess that's what I'm going to have to agree to to get out of here, but I don't know if Boudica would really mean it. Severus has wizards that tell him if he's being lied to."

"It's up to you," replied Severus. "Say if you mean it or not."

"I don't want you to let me free for a stupid cup."

"He's only playing this once."

Harry knew what 'he' Severus meant. Him.

"I'm new at this. Sorry," Harry explained.

Severus barely acknowledged what Harry said with a slight shrug, and commented, "It's up to you, Elizabeth. If this does not free you, we'll come up with something else."

This was hardly the Severus Snape that Harry knew. Maybe this is why they were allowed to play this game, since they worked together.

"I guess," she replied mulishly, before continuing, "Boudica admits that Caesar was not personally involved with the attack against her family, and although he is all-powerful and possibly all-knowing, mortal men, such as his soldiers, are subject to their baser instincts."

Severus nodded, then stated, "Considering the crimes that were committed against Queen Boudica's family, Caesar has decided that she is now free, and will remain so as long as she does not raise arms or stir up dissent against her sovereign again. Next time, We will not be as lenient."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 6

Harry thought lunch with the students could have gone better, but it also could have been a lot worse. They certainly did not treat him like a celebrity. Harry did not want to intimidate Severus with that Boy Who Lived/Chosen One stuff, especially if he started getting his memories back.

As far as Harry knew, Dumbledore would not explain what happened for him to return, and from the lack of caring for Snape, doubted Dumbledore planned for Snape to return too. Things with Dumbledore were not fortuitous accidents. Harry was getting too smart to fall for that.

The headmistress said Severus would be sent to her office shortly.

Harry was surprised by her question. "Do you have a steady girlfriend, Mr. Potter?"

"Uh yes, but uh, she's at Hogwarts. She's in seventh year and of age. I've known her for years, since it's Ron Weasley's little sister."

"Weasley? Are you engaged, since you are already living at their house?"

"We're not sharing anything. I'm in Percy's old bedroom since he's moved out. I'm only eighteen. I think Ginny's the girl for me, but I don't want to go right from fighting for my life, to getting married and start ..." Harry paused, he had almost been tricked into saying he did not want to have a family, " … things of that importance without enjoying all the preliminaries like hand holding, walking barefoot on the beach, dinner in restaurants that make me afraid to touch the silver and all that sort of thing. She's got her NEWTs ahead of her. If I wasn't let into the auror training program on an exception, I suppose I'd be taking my NEWTs in June too, and then apply to the auror program."

"I did not recall mention of your academic achievements, Mr. Potter, but if you were studying the proper subjects to become an auror, and got those sorts of OWLs, that is good."

"I'm lucky to have heard about the auror program in fourth year so I knew what to concentrate on in fifth."

"What about schooling for a child you adopt? I would not recommend Severus in a local muggle school. He's bright in some subjects, but at his young age, I think he's reached the point where he is actually ready to learn how to use a wand, since his magic is so abundant. Muggles would notice that."

"So what are the options?"

"He was schooled at home by his mother prior to coming here. She was at home with him every day, which you will be unable to do with your career. Severus is already past where we teach children reading and math in preparation to go to Hogwarts. The only area in need of improvement is his penmanship actually."

"What else does he need to know for Hogwarts?" Harry asked and also wistfully thinking that he would not mind Snape still writing like the Half-Blood Prince.

"Severus is already fluent in Latin, even though that is no longer a requirement. His prior education also includes basic potions and spells."

"You haven't given him a wand to try?"

"Oh no, our school is not certified for that sort of coursework. Some students entering their first year of Hogwarts may have tried a wand at home under their parents' supervision, but not in a formal school setting. The Ministry is strict on appropriate magical education and who can professionally teach."

Harry mused that must not apply to teach Defense against the Dark Arts.

"Well, I'll have to look into that. I wouldn't withhold education from Severus. I do know that Ron was taught at home by his mum, but I haven't discussed with Mrs. Weasley whether she'd be willing to teach Severus."

In truth, he had not discussed much with Mrs. Weasley regarding looking for Severus Snape since the one time he mentioned it months ago started a fresh bout of crying over Fred. Since she started crying about Fred, even when doing laundry and every time she looked at his seat at the kitchen table, till the family rearranged the seating, Harry was not sure if Snape was even related to her crying. At the very least, Harry was sure Snape would be fed at the Weasleys.

"I do know from his current teacher that he is a joy to teach so you should have little trouble keeping a tutor, once you find the right one, if your friend's mother's skills are geared towards younger children."

"Mrs. Weasley's skills? She dueled Bellatrix Lestrange single-handed and won. I'd say she's got skills."

"I meant no offense, Mr. Potter. This student in particular would need advanced schooling in order not to become bored is what I meant. Though I'm not making any promises that he will be a powerful wizard, just that he's fond of books and reading."

Not a powerful wizard? Harry didn't think people should be adopting kids based on their magic potential, but at least Harry considered Snape had been really good at magic.

For schooling though, Harry speculated that over the holiday that Hermione could meet Severus and then once Harry explained the problem, she'd probably work out an appropriate curriculum and what he dreaded most, one of those color-coded study plans.

"I would not mind if he gets sorted into Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Every house has its strengths, and even a Gryffindor like me admits that without a cool head, things rapidly go tits up."

"A Slytherin?" the headmistress asked in horror.

"I think some Slytherins are all right," Harry replied, hoping she would not ask him to name any. The only one that came immediately to mind was Severus. Certainly a Slytherin was all right to pay for this orphanage, however Harry was not about to say something nice about Lucius Malfoy.

Harry was saved by a knock on the door. It was Severus.

He was told to take a seat, and Harry was a bit self-conscious since the headmistress was staying to watch them. Not that he had a plan to tell Severus who he was yet. That would be too big a shock since he was living here with all these other children when he was really a war hero like Harry. He was dreading the questions and accusations such as why was he left here for months.

Figuring he might as well just say it, Harry stated, "I told the headmistress that I wanted to adopt you."

Severus made a face, then asked, "Me?" Obviously, Potter knew who he was, but why would he want to adopt him? To have power over him, control his life and beat him night and day?

"Yes."

"No thank you."

"Why not?"

With a shrug, Severus replied, "I like it here."

"This is an orphanage."

"It's very nice."

"But you're the one I want."

Severus resisted rolling his eyes. He knew why Potter wanted him in particular, but he sounded like a spoiled brat. He was a person, not a new model of racing broom. Severus responded, "There are many here who would be grateful for the opportunity, Mr. Potter. I don't know you, or much about what you did so I'm not going to be any good to you."

"That's all right, Severus."

Knowing that it was useless to resist, when he was supposed to be merely a child, did not mean he had to smile at the Boy Wonder, especially when he decided to address him by his first name. Ungrateful pisant. He was suspicious that Potter was the one that found him. No one else cared? Or was he supposed to be some sort of reward for the gormless Gryffindor and had come to collect months later, once he was bored with signing autographs and posing for pictures? If push came to shove, Severus knew exactly what made Potter tick and could make him miserable until he decided to get rid of him.

Looking at the head of the orphanage, Severus asked, "May I please return to class, headmistress?"

"Yes, Severus."

"But ..." Harry interrupted, "I uh … I'd really like to adopt you."

Harry got an odd look from Severus as he left the office.

"Perhaps you'd like some time to consider another child, Mr. Potter?"

"No, I want Severus."

"As I told you earlier, he's not interested in leaving here."

"But isn't your job to find the children homes?"

"The priority is younger children who would benefit from placement. Severus is older and not interested in finding a new family."

"That's because his old one was so crummy."

"What would you know of that? You know them?"

"No … I'm only guessing that's why he's not interested and thinks an orphanage is nice."

"My institution is the best it can be."

"Well yeah, it is, but it's not a substitute for a family."

"I can see we are not going to see eye to eye on this, Mr. Potter."

"Huh?"

"I'm not inclined to approve a single, young wizard who rationalizes his whims with such accusations."

"I didn't make any accusations," Harry protested.

Harry was shown to the floo and felt frustrated. He had found Severus Snape, and no one admitted who he really was so anyone could just come along and do whatever they wanted to him.

At the Ministry, Harry decided to go right to the top, and ended up sitting outside the Minister's office.

Kingsley did speak to Harry and could not believe that Severus Snape was in the Ministry's orphanage for months. Harry suspected he had probably been there since shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Continuing, Harry complained, "And now the witch in charge won't let me adopt Severus."

"Adopt him?"

"If he's an orphan, or considered an orphan, I want to adopt him."

"Why?"

"Anyone could come along and realize who he really is. How many boys named Severus are out there?"

"Does he know who he is?"

"He knows his name, but Severus hardly even knows who I am. He thinks he's eight years old."

"Can't Snape stay there?"

"Malfoy funds the orphanage. What if he notices him?"

"Why would he? There's been hardly any mention of Severus Snape returning with Albus Dumbledore. Besides, Dumbledore knows exactly who he is, even with the one year gap in his memory."

"The Ministry's been looking for Severus for over six months. I think someone might have noticed that his description was that of a child, not an adult."

"The mission was only for those that needed to know, Harry. It was kept very quiet, based on Dumbledore's assessment that Snape did not remember anything."

"I want him out of there, Kingsley."

"He might actually be safer there, hiding among all those other children."

"I noticed him right away, even while he's playing with others. Severus exhibits a lot of accidental magic for a child that age."

"Harry, adopting a child is a huge responsibility. Perhaps I can find someone else to adopt him."

"I owe it to him. I don't know how many times Severus has saved my life, but I owe it to him."

"If he's eight, it'll be years before he can even go to Hogwarts, Harry. What are you going to do with him?"

"Keep him safe, Kingsley."

"He may end up hating you."

Harry laughed mirthlessly, "Like he liked me before? It's not about that, even though I'd like to do something for him. I'm going to have to improvise. Isn't that what parents do?"

"What do you know about being a parent?"

"How much do you know? Why can't I adopt him? Are you?"

"Me? Can you imagine the press that would get?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with that too. Get the adoption approved and sneak the paperwork through so I don't have a group of photographers all over us?"

"Not asking for much, are you, Harry?"

"What? You're the Minister."

"And you're Harry Potter."

"Well yeah, but I'd rather not go into that, you know, once I can get this little favor done."

"Oh yes, adopting one's former teacher after he's are mysteriously resurrected as a child is a teensy-weensy, little favor, especially when he was the most mysterious and controversial figure on either side of the war. Sure. Lovely. How do we know he doesn't have his memories, and he's faking it?"

"Besides him coloring pictures and playing with other children? He has pictures colored all over his classroom, and they're in color, not just black crayon."

"I'm going to have to take a look at this, Harry. This seems mighty suspicious."

Kingsley returned to the orphanage with Harry. After some quiet explanations that revealed nothing that was close to the truth, Kingsley looked at Severus's records. Someone had handwritten a '9' to correct his year of birth to 1990, instead of 1960. Everything else was about Severus Snape. The Severus Snape.

Seeing a look cross Kingsley's face, Harry leaned over to look at the records. Fleas? Snape had fleas and lice? Aunt Petunia never let Harry get that bad.

The headmistress attempted to convince the Minister that perhaps he should adopt Severus, but Harry was insistent that he owed it to his former professor.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 7

Severus was not completely surprised when Potter came back with Shacklebolt in tow to collect him during the night. He heard the commotion outside their bedroom and pretended to still be asleep like the other boys in here since he heard the headmistress's voice along with Potter and Shacklebolt.

In the middle of the night? Well, not quite the middle of the night, but after all their bedtimes. It was rare, but when it did happen, it was quite disturbing to the other children to wake up and find one of them missing.

So Potter wanted some drama? Severus could give him drama, or at least he could till he was silenced or stunned. That would make a lovely photo for the press circus that followed Potter around.

The headmistress tried to wake him in the dark, silently with a nudge, and a whispered, "Get up, Severus. It's time to go."

Faking confusion in the dark room, Severus slid out of bed, exclaiming while clinging to the headmistress's robes, "Mother, you found me!"

Kingsley had not expected such a high-pitched voice. Why was he addressing the headmistress by the title 'mother'? It might help a child short-term, but that would have to be confusing.

"No, Severus. You've been adopted."

All the lights came on brightly in the room. Severus did not want them to miss the look of horror on his face before he loudly disputed, "No! My mother will find me!"

"Severus -"

"No, she's smart. She'll find me," he asserted as he twisted from her grasp.

"Your mother is not coming," Kingsley stated. Sometimes it took a strong man saying something to get a message through to a child.

The Minister knew it was meant as some insult when Snape pointed his finger at him and let out some horrible noise that was soon copied by the rest of the inmates in this room. Merlin-blasted children.

Harry found this somewhat disturbing. Why didn't Severus accept that his mother was dead? Why did they let him keep thinking that his mother was looking for him?

"Stop it! All of you!" the headmistress urged as all the young boys in this room were making a spectacle of some sort out of the Minister.

Severus grabbed the bar of his headboard and stuck his hand to it magically. Harry bloody Potter could not drag the Minister here in the middle of the night to get his way so easily. What next, was Potter going to throw himself on the floor and try to have the best temper tantrum ever seen here to get his way?

"Come on. You need to get dressed."

"No."

The headmistress ignored the boy's denial and put her wand in motion to take out his robe to dress him in it.

Things degenerated further. There was crying from half the boys in the room, others protested. Other children had left their beds in neighboring bedrooms and were in the hall to watch. There was more pointing at Kingsley. Pointing at Potter.

The headmistress lost her temper. The older children who were supposed to be keeping order protested, rather than helping. By the time Severus was charmed into a Ministry-lavender robe and a pair of shoes, she simply wanted to pull him downstairs where at least some calm could be restored, the bloody Minister and Harry bloody Potter could get out of her school, and she could restore order to everyone they upset by doing this.

Of course, the first step of getting Severus out of this room and downstairs was thwarted because he would not release his death grip on his bed. Attempts to pry his fingers loose finally worked, but the headboard bar was stuck to his palm.

Harry did not know whether to cry or applaud. Severus was already proving a challenge, and Harry was not even alone with him yet. He did consider joining all the screaming children since by now a bunch of younger children had wormed their way in here.

Kingsley stood still amidst the sea of chaos. It was reminiscent of a heated debate amongst the Wizengamot.

It was slow going getting Severus freed from the bed, children chased out of the way, instructions given to the few adults and teens to get everyone where they belonged, and heading downstairs to the floo.

When they reached the grate, Harry shook Kingsley's hand and thanked him for his help. He had a moment of trepidation when the headmistress thrust Severus's hand into his. What if Snape stuck the two of them together? Not on purpose, but accidental magic was not on purpose, was it?

The headmistress was happy to see the back of Harry bloody Potter as he got into the green flames with Severus, announcing, "The Burrow."

Severus felt Potter was a ponderous clod as he fell out of the kitchen grate at the Weasleys, dragging him along.

"Oh now you're here," was Mrs. Weasley's impatient greeting. No floo call, Ron claiming he had no idea where Harry was, or if he'd be home for dinner.

"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley. I got uh … held up somewhere."

Ron had been having a bit of a late, post-dinner snack when Harry arrived. Afraid of dropping it, he put down his bacon sandwich. Harry had something with him. A feeling of dread washed over Ron at the sight of the horrible mane of black hair. The robe was hideous, but not recognizable as something he found traditionally repulsive like black, bat-like robes with over a hundred cloth-covered buttons.

Harry's best friend breathed, "Is that _him_?"

"Who is that?" Mrs. Weasley asked. She had been waiting for Harry to introduce the child he had with him, but her son's question was vague. The only thing recognizable was the shade of lavender. Ministry purple.

"It is," Harry answered Ron, then explained to Mrs. Weasley, "I guess I owe you a longer explanation Mrs. Weasley but um … I guess I should put him to bed since he was asleep when Kingsley came with me."

"What did'ja involve him for?" Ron asked.

"Well um, I can explain later. Probably tomorrow."

Severus was not going to volunteer anything to make it easier for Potter. If he wanted to be continually impulsive, Potter should get better at justifying his idiocy. Bringing a boy home was not the same as picking out a puffskein. Besides, he should get them used to good behavior here, and save up his antics for important things. Throwing a fit now was not going to get him returned to the orphanage.

Harry realized how awkward this was. He had only told Ron he was going to take a look, not bring Snape back to the Burrow if he found him.

"Maybe you can fill your mum in while I take care of him?"

"Fill her in on what?" Ron exclaimed. This … adventure was Harry's alone. Snape looked sort of healthy. He had all his limbs. Why bother moving him out of the orphanage? Ron could only assume that's where Harry found him by the ugly robe. Ugh, the little git just looked his way. Same creepy black eyes.

"The basics, Ron. I don't know a lot myself, but Sss … he knows even less, and I'm not sure what I should say. You know?"

Ron snorted. If Harry did not know how idiotic this was, wait till Hermione and Ginny found out. Oh no, would he make Snape call him daddy and Ginny mummy? Nah, Harry probably had some idea of leaving the git with his parents. With a glance at his mum, before picking up his sandwich, Ron was positive his mum could sort out the little git. Maybe not so much that he'd be sorted into Gryffindor, but maybe enough so Snape could be a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Perhaps Ron should buy her some new wooden spoons for Christmas.

Being surrounded by so much stupidity was going to be painful, Severus thought to himself. Unlike the orphanage where he had been a popular boy, it would be better to revert back to being a loner here since he doubted he could act as dumb as a Weasley child … or supposed adult.

Over time, he might convince Potter to move out of the Burrow, but Severus would have to wait and see. Being alone with Potter would be pretty dull. Once he was out from underneath Molly Weasley's watchful eye and being a hero, Potter might have a parade of willing chippies marching across his bed, and even toying with them would grow old fast.

Potter was rambling in noncomplete sentences about the house. It was a magic house? No shit. There was not enough duck [sic] tape in England to keep this pile of crooked boards and half-knit jumpers together. The fact that Potter was staying in Percy's old room did not impress Severus since he remembered who Percy Weasley was.

When Potter opened the door along the stairs with a flourish, Severus found it hard not to make a face or roll his eyes. There was nothing special about this room. Unless one considered the famous Harry Bloody Bollocksy Potter slept with his head on that very pillow … oh, the excitement! Luckily his heart was now as young as the rest of him and he did not keel over due to palpitations.

Potter's babble stopped with a long "Uh ..."

That's right. Gryffindors could not think and talk at the same time.

Severus walked into the room and looked about. He had never been in Percy's bedroom so it was new to him. Like the rest of the Burrow, it was not safe structurally but magic held it onto the side of the house like a barnacle.

Since the silence lengthened, Severus considered that Potter was still trying to think. Slack-jawed dunderhead that he was. Due to Severus wanting to have some say in things, without seeming to, he asked, "Does it get much colder in here?"

"Huh?"

"There's a draft on the floor, and there's a gap along the window. Am I sleeping on the floor in here, or down in the kitchen by the stove?"

"By the stove?" Potter repeated.

"At home, when it was cold, I slept by the stove. When it was coldest, I'd sleep between my parents."

"You don't need to sleep on the floor. Either in here, or down by the stove."

That was mighty big of Potter. At least now the moron was thinking in the right direction, rather than thinking Severus hung by his feet from a pole in the closet upside down like a bat at night. He could attempt to conjure another bed, since Severus recalled Potter had taken some NEWT level Transfiguration, however he probably never thought of applying any of the knowledge he could have learned, and may not have bothered at all, hoping that NEWT requirements would be waived since it was terribly unfair to expect Harry bloody Potter to follow any sort of rules or expect the Ministry to have their aurors, still legally the only ones allowed to cast Unforgivables, meet any minimum requirements for the position.

Harry had been about to conjure up a bed. It did get a bit cold in here. He did not wake up seeing his breath puffing in the air in front of his face, but it was chilly. The floor was drafty. Maybe it would get colder in the next month or two. For the beginning of December, it was not too bad now.

Since Severus's expectations were low as to where he'd be sleeping, Harry gave that last bit a little thought. That sounded sort of nice … with his parents, not Snape's, but would he? Not that Severus had to, but it couldn't hurt to suggest, and the room wasn't all that big to begin with to be sticking a second bed and a second one of whatever he needed in here. Temporarily. Harry had not given any thought to where Severus would sleep when he impetuously insisted on adopting him earlier today. Harry could sleep with Ron, and let Severus have this room, but first he'd ask, "Um, maybe it's too cold. You're right. I didn't uh think about that so um, if it's all right with you, maybe we can give that last bit a try? You sleep with me?"

Sleep next to Potter? Oh Merlin. At least Severus was reasonably sure Potter was interested in nubile curvy girls who were incapable of intelligent conversation.

Harry released a breath that he did not realize he was holding when Severus simply replied, "All right."

Actually, it felt pretty good. Harry had overcome his first obstacle without having to resort to anything crazy or a long drawn out negotiation. At what age did Snape become a difficult git?

He stood frozen as Severus removed his shoes and got into bed.

"Um ..."

"I washed and brushed my teeth before I went to bed earlier," Severus explained.

"Right," Harry agreed. That should have been what he was going to ask about. Since Severus only put the robe on a short while ago, it was clean so he could worry about more clothes and pajamas tomorrow. "Um, I'm going to stay up a little longer, if that's all right?"

"You are an adult."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, opening a drawer, deciding to change in the loo and sneak down to add a few words to whatever Ron explained to Mrs. Weasley.

"I'll just um … dim the lights in here for you," Harry explained unnecessarily, then added, "I'm just going to change, and maybe get a drink first, but I won't be long at all, but it's all right if you fall asleep. Okay?"

Severus simply replied affirmatively, "Hmm."

Remaining awake for however long it took Harry bloody Potter to slip into bed next to him was not a priority. Being rested enough to jab the conceited moron during the night with his elbows and knees was more important.

Harry hovered, wondering what the right thing to do was. He couldn't kiss him good night, even on the forehead. Besides, he was coming back in here. So that would be weird. Harry settled for patting Severus on the head, and murmured, "Good night."

After quietly closing the door, Harry went downstairs to the kitchen.

He did not even wait for the first question, but entered with the explanation, "Okay, okay, I know it was impulsive, but you had to be there. Lucius Malfoy funds the orphanage, even though it's the Ministry's, and I thought he might realize who Severus was."

"Why?" Ron challenged.

"Because of his name, the way he looks, and he's doing a lot of accidental magic. Even if you don't know who he is, his drawing and coloring makes him stand out."

"That boy's name is Severus?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Didn't you tell her anything?" Harry accused Ron. "Were you just going to go to sleep and not tell her who I brought home with me?"

"I thought you said he doesn't remember anything. He's dangerous?"

"Not more than a magical child would be, but he can get quite emotional. Severus is confused about his parents and stuff."

"Why? Dumbledore lost him months ago."

"Yeah, and he's been waiting for his mum to find him at the orphanage. He didn't want to get adopted because of that."

"Should have left him then, mate."

"Didn't you just hear me? Malfoy? Severus was like the star pupil in his class?"

Ron scoffed, "He's no Hermione."

"I didn't say that –"

"He's Severus Snape?" Mrs. Weasley interrupted.

"Yes, he appeared with Dumbledore in the Shrieking Shack, and then Dumbledore was in such a hurry to get up to the castle to help me, that he lost him. The problem is Snape does not remember being an adult."

"What are you going to do with him, Harry?"

"Well, I got him out of the orphanage by adopting him -"

"Adopt? You adopted Severus Snape?" Mrs. Weasley asked, not too loudly, but it was obvious she was upset.

"You're mental," was Ron's contribution.

"Well yeah, I know, it was you know … but if someone else found him, especially since I had asked Kingsley to find him, and the couple people he had working on it were too stupid to look in the Ministry's orphanage. He's been there for months."

Mrs. Weasley's finger pointed upwards and in the direction of the stairs, "You cannot adopt him."

"That's what the headmistress at the orphanage said, but then I got Kingsley there, and it all got sorted, once we got Severus from sticking himself to big things in his room."

In case Harry did not hear him the first time, Ron repeated, "Mental. Absolutely mental."

"Yeah, I know," Harry agreed, "but he's saved my life enough times that I thought I should do something."

"Do something as in tell the Ministry, and not get involved," Mrs. Weasley explained. "You've done that bit, Harry. No need for you to take on this extra burden. He'll ruin your life. Severus Snape may look like a boy, but it's still Severus Snape."

Harry's face twisted into a mask of disbelief. Ruin his life? That was a bit over the top.

Ron nodded and added another, "Mental, mate."

"So I've heard. Anyway, he's here now."

"Where'd you stash him?"

"In my room, I'll sleep with him tonight-"

Harry was distracted by the look of horror on Ron's face, and added, "Don't be a git. He's eight. He does eight year old things, like coloring and playing four corners. Their headmistress at the orphanage says he needs a tutor that'll keep him busy since he's pretty much ready for Hogwarts except for his penmanship. I thought I'd talk to Hermione first to see if she can figure out what he should learn. Maybe she can interview people with me."

"You're going to hire him a tutor?" Ron asked with a bit of disgust.

"Uh, well, I didn't want to assume," Harry glanced in Mrs. Weasley's direction, "that uh … you know you're saying I made a mistake adopting him, but he shouldn't be punished for that. And it's you know … a short bit off till the holiday break so with the … you know, everyone else taking off for a bit, he could take it easy, then get you know … I could uh ..."

"Think for once?" Mrs. Weasley suggested.

"Well yeah, but with Hermione here, I wouldn't have to tax myself too much," Harry muttered. He felt he was not going to be able to talk himself into a better position, so he might as well cut his losses and get back upstairs. "Well, um, good night."

"Wait," Ron cried. "He's not going to be allowed to roam about the house is he?"

Harry looked puzzled by that question, then thought it was a stupid question so ignored it. Roam around the house. Roam around and do what? Deduct points from Gryffindor and hand out detentions? Why not brew potions in the chicken coop?

When Harry finished getting ready for bed, he went back to Percy's, or his, room. He uttered a low, "Uh ..." in the direction of the bed.

"I'm awake still."

"Oh, well, I didn't ask before but did you want me to sleep next to the window?"

"It's not bad. Do you get up early?"

"Yeah, so I guess until it gets colder, I'll sleep on the outside … I mean the outside in order to get up, not next to window and wall."

"All right."

"There's enough blankets then?"

"Yes."

What else should he ask? Harry knew he was new to this, but he did not want to overlook something really stupid.

"Oh, I didn't mention … if uh … you need um … the loo, it's across the hall and down a half-flight of stairs, and the door's usually open if no one's in it."

"All right," Severus replied, considering that with the number of people dwelling here, it was likely the door would usually be closed.

For lack of anything else to say, Harry sighed, looked around the dim room, then lifted the covers and got into bed. Once settled, he cast _nox_ , but then realized it was almost completely dark and asked, "Do you need some light?"

"For what?"

"Whatever."

"No thank you."

Harry lay quietly. He could feel Severus next to him. Not quite touching, but the bed was already warm. Kind of nice, like he had cast a warming charm on the sheets ahead of time … ooh, should Harry have done that for Severus earlier? Too late to do that tonight, but tomorrow, he should.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 8

Harry awoke suddenly due to a pointy elbow getting him in the stomach. It was not the first elbow, knee or outstretched finger that got prodded him during the night, however Harry felt he had rested about as well as he could by now.

He charmed the window blind up a few inches to look at Severus sleep. All he saw was a boy. His nose was not so pronounced when his long, black hair was fanned over his face.

Harry touched the tip of the nose and the black eyes opened.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

Severus sniffed, then replied, "It's all right. At least it's light out."

"I got to buy you some clothes, and um, some pajamas too, and take you for a haircut."

The boy suddenly looked upset, and complained, "I don't want my hair cut."

"Why not?"

"If I die, my mother won't recognize me."

Harry thought that sounded rather morbid. Perhaps talk of death was common in an orphanage.

"Good idea," Harry agreed. He remembered how his hair kept growing back after aunt Petunia hacked it off with a pair of scissors. Severus could probably do the same thing.

"So um … we should get up, and I can get the wrinkles out of your robe, and then we can take turns in the loo, and I'll get dressed and we can go downstairs for breakfast."

"All right," Severus replied. It was so hard, even this early, not to sneer at the Boy Who Lived's ability to ramble on. Perhaps he should save his sneers for Weasley or Granger. Potter was too easy.

When they arrived downstairs, Arthur Weasley was already seated at head of the table. Severus's appearance earned a 'Merlin's beard' from him, based on what his wife had told him last night. The boy certainly looked like a miniature Severus Snape, except for that horrid-colored robe.

"Uh yeah, um, good morning, Mr. Weasley. This is Severus. I … well, yeah well um, adopted him."

Severus wondered if Potter would develop a bit more eloquence to express his major life events such as marriage and children. Undoubtedly Potter could spend hours recounting his every move in a quidditch match.

When Ron arrived in the kitchen, he sat across from Severus, and stared at him for the entire meal. The little git was still as gittish-looking as a boy. Perhaps less greasy, but still as ugly. Perhaps uglier. Black must really be his color because that robe looked like rubbish on him. The little freak kept looking at him too with those creepy black eyes. Merlin, he must have been an evil-looking baby.

"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry ventured.

"Yes, Harry?"

"It's all right if Severus helps you here? I can get him some things while we're on lunch break and have them flooed."

"No rush, dear. I have a few things around he can wear."

Severus allowed that to pass him by without a grimace of horror. As a child, he wore horrendous things, and he ranked this lilac robe as one of them. Would Weasley cast-offs be any worse than his parents' economical fashion sense?

His new parent and his sidekick flooed to wherever they went, and Mr. Weasley left also. Severus was not precisely sure if Mrs. Weasley had a purpose to make sure he was not idle between feeding chickens, assisting with laundry, sweeping the dirt yard with a different broom than was used in the kitchen. She may have tried this with all her children, but Severus recalled only one was industrious with performing tasks – Percy. And now he slept in Percy's room with Harry Potter. Potter was a slacker, as was Ronald.

In London, Harry received an owl during a break at auror training, and he swooned at what he read.

Ron propped him up, and demanded, "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm dead. So dead."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Look."

Ron's eyes looked over the official document, and he also paled at what some bureaucrat did. Harry was right. He was dead, yet his body didn't know it.

Harry read it aloud, "Severus Harry Potter." It sounded so wrong.

"Burn the evidence," Ron suggested, "and act dumb."

"This has got to get fixed."

"To what? Isn't he supposed to have your last name?"

"This is a disaster," Harry admitted.

"I can't argue with ya, mate. Wait till Hermione finds out. She'll have a whole list of how you were stupid."

"Thanks, Ron."

That evening, Severus was pleased with his new clothing. Potter did not take advantage of his position as his guardian. There was some black clothing, but also dark green, blue and brown. All normal colors that a young boy might wear. He didn't even receive white underwear.

Mrs. Weasley did not like him in the house, and let him know as soon as they were alone earlier today. That didn't prevent her from giving him chores though. Soon, Potter would have to decide whether to send him back to the orphanage, or move out of here.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 9

Harry had been happy when he stepped through the floo. Ron too. Hogwarts was out for the holidays, and besides Ginny being back at the Burrow, Ron was hoping to get some quality face time with Hermione.

Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen, which was not unusual, and answered Harry's question with, "She's upstairs. Oh, Prof. Dumbledore stopped by, and he left this for you."

Not seeing what was in the flowered dish towel till Mrs. Weasley flipped it back, using it to protect her flesh from touching the repellant … dark wood wand.

"Oh," Harry said. "Is that Snape's?"

"Yes. I wasn't going to go giving it to _him_."

"Of course not," Harry replied, still aggravated at the emphasis on _him_. Harry thought his way of calling Snape Snape when he meant the adult version, and Severus Severus when he meant the current version worked out just fine.

Mrs. Weasley's complaints that Severus did nothing properly, such as folding laundry, pairing socks and rolling the pair into a perfect ball, or feeding chickens, wasn't due to Severus refusing to do any chores. He simply could not meet Mrs. Weasley's high standards, yet Harry suspected none of her children, barring Percy, ever did. Further proof of her cruel and unusual punishment was to only allow Severus the privilege of reading the works of a real Wizarding hero, Gilderoy Lockhart. Harry felt bad for Severus and how he must have suffered at the orphanage because he declared the books 'weren't dreadful'. When Harry tried to explain to Severus how this was only temporary because Hermione would sort everything out, the boy looked up from _Waltzing with Werewolves_ and simply said 'okay'.

"He's upstairs?" Harry asked. He had been sent to his room every day, except for the day Harry came home to find him standing in the corner, staring at the wall for giving Mrs. Weasley 'sass'.

What Harry didn't understand is how both of them gave him the same story. Severus had asked Mrs. Weasley 'what is that?' as she strained a pot of boiled and mashed gurdyroots. Having sampled Gurdyroot Infusion for himself, Harry saw nothing wrong with questioning what it was. Severus Snape was not stupid, and asking a question like that was perfectly reasonable, as far as Harry was concerned.

"He gave me that look again," Mrs. Weasley complained.

"Should pluck out those shifty eyes of his," Ron suggested.

Harry couldn't wait for Hermione to adjust Ron's attitude. He was getting worse, and more immature. Harry hadn't caught Severus doing anything wrong so far. Harry knew what it was like to be hated for simply being a waste of space and breathing up all the good air at number four Privet Drive, so he was never in the mood for their jests.

Other Weasleys stared at Severus, finding him as interesting as a big bug they found sitting in one of their kitchen chairs. It was Ron and Molly that were hostile, and now Harry had some explaining to do to Ginny, especially since Severus had already heard that Harry was marrying Ginny this summer, after she graduated Hogwarts, out in the Weasley garden. All that came out when Severus asked where he was being sent because Mrs. Weasley had given him an earful over chicken droppings in the yard.

Harry seemed to be the last to know after Severus that he had a fiancé. The plan was that Harry was supposed to propose now, over Christmas holiday, because Ginny needed time to plan, so it would be rude to ask at Easter.

It might be more convenient to do the wedding thing when Harry felt like getting married. Maybe not till Severus was a first year. Though Harry couldn't tell anyone that, or Severus might disappear one day while he was out. He was starting to feel he couldn't trust Mrs. Weasley. Might be Slytherin paranoia, but he didn't see how Severus was playing him, if all he did was ask why he was alive when someone as loved as Fred was dead. Someone had to mention Fred, which was pretty much a forbidden subject in the Burrow with Mrs. Weasley's big ears.

Harry opened the door to his, or Percy's old, bedroom. He hadn't knocked because he did have a smidgen of doubt about Severus, yet never caught him doing anything except reading Lockhart.

Today, Severus was not sitting in here reading Lockhart. The bed was no longer made either, and there was a wet spot in the middle of the floor. Harry looked at the dry ceiling before leaning closer. It did have an aroma, and wasn't what Harry expected, and there was blood there too.

"Severus," he called.

There was a noise.

"Severus, it's me, Harry."

There was a cry from over by the bed. The blanket had been pulled off and dragged underneath.

Harry leaned down and saw blanket, and pulled on it, asking, "Are you under there?"

There was a pained squeal, and Harry levitated the bed. Severus was curled up and against the outside wall. Harry moved the bed over, so he could get in there and look at the boy without dropping the bed on both of them.

"What's wrong?" Harry put a hand on Severus's shoulder, and felt the boy stiffen.

"What happened?"

There was a sniffle before Severus quietly said, "The ginger-haired man that stole me from my parents was here."

Harry pulled at the blanket. "Mrs. Weasley told me."

"He wants me dead. He cast spells at me to make me sick."

"What kind of spells?" Harry asked while pulling Severus away from the wall.

"He hurt my head and made me think about my parents a lot."

" _Legilimens_?" Harry asked before he saw blood.

Harry pushed Severus's hair aside to look at his face. Nose bleed, split lip, and one of his eyes was past bloodshot. Half the white was now red.

He picked up Severus in his arms and moved as quickly as he could, while trying to stay safe, to get downstairs to the floo.

"What's going on?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I need to get Severus to St. Mungo's. Dumbledore cast something at him."

"Nonsense. Why would -?"

"I don't know. He's bleeding. Out of the way."

"What are we going to tell Ginny?" Ron asked.

"I'll be back later."

Severus thought his ruse was going well, and even tolerated Potter falling on him when they emerged from the floo at St. Mungo's. Dumbledore had cast _legilimens_ on him, but not with the strength or intent of the Dark Lord so he saw nothing other than what Severus wanted him to see. The difficult part was self-inflicting injury, even without a wand Severus had no practice at harming himself, and he needed to make the injuries resemble _legilimens_ cast too long rather than just slicing himself open to make a bloody mess.

Of course the former headmaster would prevaricate or outright lie about what happened, that's why Severus had to take this drastic action. Dumbledore would do much worse to him later at Hogwarts if Severus couldn't establish boundaries now. And Potter seemed to genuinely want to protect him so Severus should do him the favor of establishing some threat so Potter could play the hero.

Harry was flabbergasted. How long did Dumbledore cast _legilimens_ on Severus? Did he think little Severus had the same occlumency skills as grown Snape? And why? Why would he do that? What could Severus know that Dumbledore needed to find out? And why didn't Dumbledore talk to Harry before attacking Severus? Unarmed Severus.

The whole reason Harry pulled Severus out of the orphanage was to protect him. He didn't do it to give the 'good guys' access to Severus whenever they wanted to torture him.

Harry was so worked up by Severus's diagnosis, his first tried to floo to Hogwarts from St. Mungo's but the flame didn't turn green. He could apparate, but hesitated. What was he going to do tonight that he couldn't tomorrow? Perhaps he needed to keep a cool head. What if this was some ploy of Dumbledore's to lure Harry into a duel so he could get the respect of the Death Stick back?

"Mental," Harry muttered to himself before deciding to apparate to the Burrow.

As he entered the house, he was bombarded with variations of the same question. "Where is he?'

"Uh, they kept him overnight. Severus was um … pretty hurt."

Ron murmured, "Mum said he pissed himself."

"I don't think he could help it, Ron. He was on the receiving end of _legilimens_ for who knows how long, and Dumbledore wasn't going easy on him because he's a child."

Backpedaling, Ron said, "I meant it had to be pretty bad for that to happen."

"Oh," Harry said, then added, "You're right. They're not sure if there's going to be permanent damage or not."

Hermione said, "I can't believe Prof. Dumbledore would do such a thing."

"I'm not so sure," Harry said.

"Maybe it was someone who took polyjuice potion," she suggested.

"No, he gave Snape's wand to Mrs. Weasley. It had to be Dumbledore because he's been using that wand since the Shrieking Shack."

Ginny didn't say anything till the room cleared out. "Mum said you adopted Snape on a whim."

"It was sudden," Harry admitted, "but I had been looking to find him for so long, and no one else could find him when he was right there under the Ministry's noses. What if I walked away and then he disappeared again? Adopting him was the only way I could make sure I knew he was safe."

"How's that working out for you?"

"What?" Harry spluttered. "He was fine here till today. I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I'm not going to let Dumbledore get away with this."

"Feuding with Dumbledore's not going to accomplish anything."

"He teaches children," Harry protested. "He doesn't treat them very well, leaving babies on doorsteps on cold autumn nights-"

"Is this about you or Snape?"

"It's … this is the last straw," Harry declared. "Severus is not an expendable orphan."

"Expendable? Aren't you being overly dramatic, Harry? And that's the same reason why you jumped in to adopt Snape. You blow things out of proportion. You've never had children, and now he's taking advantage of that and walking all over you."

"Uh … I'm living here in the Burrow. I think if I wasn't up to the task and Severus was beasting it up, your mum or brothers would put him in his place. Actually, he's pretty good. He gets in trouble for his sass, not because he's disobedient or lazy."

Ginny threw her hands up. "You're not getting it, Harry! You didn't even ask me before you did this. You just went and did it!"

"Didn't you hear me? I just told you I had to do it."

"You told me, but you didn't have to do anything. I don't want Severus Snape as my kid!"

"You're getting a bit ahead of things, Ginny. He's mine now. And even though I was thinking it would only be a couple years till he goes to Hogwarts, he's not so bad."

"Harry, he's still Snape."

"I prefer to call him Severus now."


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 10

Severus remained at the hospital overnight. Although it added to the appearance of how hurt he could be if Dumbledore had lengthened or intensified today's session of _legilimens_ , Severus didn't know what Potter was doing. He could be doing nothing. It was Dumbledore, and Dumbledore did whatever he wanted. Would Potter's need to be a hero overcome that, or would he simply react every time Severus arranged some misfortune for himself?

He picked at his hospital breakfast for an extended time, waiting for Potter to show.

His tray was taken away before Potter arrived. Perhaps the berk overslept without having Severus poking him in the side all night. A person who thought may have transfigured a bed for the boy. Obviously, Severus had overestimated Potter's mental prowess. The idiot seemed to prefer elbows to the ribs.

After receiving his own prodding from a healer, Potter finally showed at half past eleven.

Severus noticed his current father, in the legal sense, looked stern. He was no Tobias Snape, but Potter looked more likely to spit on Severus than tut over his injuries.

Harry pulled up short as Severus's eyebrows drew together over his sunken eyes.

"Sorry," he muttered. Harry had been to Hogwarts and Dumbledore stopped a smidge short of accusing Severus of faking. He admitted he hadn't seen any of Snape's adult memories and rattled on about how Snape's _occlumency_ was like a pillar of stone. The old headmaster did show a little guilt over landing Severus in the hospital, but didn't go as far to say he'd never cast any spells on him again. Even though McGonagall had been shocked, Harry doubted she'd be able to do anything if Dumbledore snuck around doing … whatever he did. Harry was puzzled about what Dumbledore was up to. It seemed that a young Snape was not part of his scheme, and the Severus in front of Harry now was not up to task of ruining Dumbledore's plots.

Harry could see a parallel between Severus and himself because as children they were expected to fend off a grown-up powerful wizard. Though in Severus's case, Dumbledore had not murdered his parents. Overall, the comparison was a stretch. Everyone knew how evil Voldemort was. Dumbledore was the opposite; Dumbledore could do whatever he wanted and people thanked him.

Harry plopped into the chair next to Severus's bed. "How you feeling?"

"Better."

He looked paler to Harry. The hospital pajamas may be making him look thinner too. "You don't have to say that if you're not feeling well."

"Yesterday I was really sick. Today, I'm not that sick."

"Okay. Do you want to play a game or something?"

"A game?"

"I thought you liked playing make believe games."

"I do, but not with … you'll think them silly."

He admitted Severus had a point. Pretending about Godric Gryffindor in a Roman bathhouse getting hit with a meteor was bizarre. The next crop of writers and illustrators for _The Quibbler_ were sitting in that orphanage.

"Okay. I have something to tell you that might sound silly too," Harry said.

Severus only looked at him, rather than falling into Harry's clever trap. Dumbledore was an idiot if he thought Harry was living with a boy with adult Snape's memory for weeks without receiving any good insults.

"I'm going to tell you this because not knowing could put you in danger."

"They told us about you at the orphanage," Severus said.

"Oh. Well not that. It's about you."

Harry kept looking into Severus's eyes. Even though they were as black as they were when he was adult, Severus didn't have the same intensity.

After taking a deep breath, Harry continued, "You're special too. In fact, you're going to be a powerful wizard."

Severus's face twisted. "Is this about me being good at school?"

"I'm not sure. I think you've probably always been smart. No, it's … um … this is going to sound weird, but I have your wand." Harry took out the black wand and extended it to the boy.

The boy's eyes looked at the wand, up to Harry's face, back to the wand, and then returned to Harry's face. He looked confused.

"Yeah, it's going to get more complicated. But this is your wand. You were really born in 1960, and a really great wizard, and saved my life a lot, and when we thought Voldemort killed you, you sort of came back as a kid."

Severus's face scrunched more before his face relaxed and his mouth opened slightly. He didn't say anything though.

Harry decided to try to explain it another way. "Uh … I'm really skipping over bits, but I think you should know because some people didn't like you as an adult and could try to do things to you if you don't know any better."

"Is this a pretending game?"

"No."

Severus gave him a blank look again.

"Really," Harry said. "You taught me at Hogwarts. This is your wand. That man who attacked you yesterday doesn't believe you're really only a child. He's suspicious and I bet a lot of other people are too."

"What about you?"

"Me? Um, I don't think you'd think hanging around in an orphanage, surrounded by children, would be something you'd do. And you certainly wouldn't want me to adopt you."

Severus tilted his head. "I didn't say I wanted you to adopt me."

"Huh? I mean you would have stopped it, rather than letting me adopt you. You're smart."

After a few quiet moments, Severus frowned. "Is this why Mrs. Weasley keeps telling me I'm bad?"

"What? When? Uh, I don't … you shouldn't … her son died." Harry's brain finished processing what Severus said, and he added, "She hasn't hurt you, has she? I mean the only bad spell that's been cast at you was by the wizard with the red beard? The one from yesterday?"

"She hasn't done anything like that."

How many times had Molly told Severus he was bad? What else had she told him? Was the Burrow comparable to the Dursleys for Severus? No, not that bad even with the Lockhart books.

Harry muttered, "Okay." He needed to think. Ginny didn't want Severus around, and if Severus hurt Mrs. Weasley's feelings by being at the Burrow, then maybe Harry had to move somewhere else.

"If I'm really an adult, where is my family?"

"Uh, um, I think they're all gone. Your house, where you grew up, is yours. No one lives there."

"Spinner's End?"

"Yeah. When I was looking for you, I tried there."

"What do you mean looking for me? I haven't left the house since you adopted me."

Harry felt a pang over that. True, he hadn't taken Severus anywhere, but there was time for that later. He explained, "I didn't realize you were at Hogwarts after the battle, and then no one could find you, and I've been looking for you for months."

"Didn't you know I was a child?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you look at the orphanage?"

"Uh, I asked people at the Ministry to look for you, but I guess they didn't do a very good job of it."

Harry didn't need Severus to raise an eyebrow at him to know how lame that sounded. Sometimes the truth sounded kind of stupid.

"Do you have any questions?" Harry asked.

"You want me to ask more questions?"

"Um, not about me doing a rubbish job finding you, but about you when you get older."

"What else do I need to know? I have no one and people want me dead."

"That's kind of harsh. And you got me."

"You just admitted you do a rubbish job."

Harry sputtered. "That's different. And I'm telling you what's going on so you know."

"You're giving an eight-year-old a wand."

"Once you relearn everything …" Harry didn't know what to do or what to say. "You're a brilliant wizard."

Severus muttered, "As long as we're in agreement you're rubbish."

Harry put Severus's wand in his hand.

Severus switched it to his other hand, turning it about. "At least I know which end is the handle."

"Sorry –" Harry started.

Severus's wand must have missed him because it shot out a bright light that momentarily blinded Harry.

Young Severus gave him a Snape-like look. "That wasn't a real spell, you know."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Author's Note: From reviews, it appears there's some confusion. Dumbledore is not 'evil'. He's just not prioritizing the same way Harry is, and is not into sharing whatever he knows or what he may have done even in an 18 year old body. Also, young Severus was rather bratty, rude, and caused physical injury. Also, Severus Snape knows exactly who he is and who he doesn't want to hold him to the promise of 'anything' for another lifetime. Harry's stuck in the middle and trying his best with what little he knows.

Chapter 11

Harry was all sorts of shades of embarrassed.

Severus was on bed rest at the Burrow, which meant the boy couldn't escape from Hermione, her wand, books, and parchment quickly filling with notes.

After Harry thought he got a break for Severus from Hermione, Ron played a game of chess with Severus. In case Ron's shouts of triumph only reached as far as the Lovegood household, Ron won.

Hermione rejoined them to check on all the commotion and pulled her head back as Ron's arm raised again. She said, "You aren't setting a very good example. It was only a game of chess."

"Yeah, but I beat _him_."

"He's a child, Ron."

"I won!"

Harry butted in, "Maybe we should let Severus get some rest."

"I can sit here and work quietly," Hermione suggested. "I wanted to look up-"

"Can't you do that downstairs?"

Ron pranced to the door, arms still raised, cheering less heartily, yet still cheering.

Someone must have been outside on the stairs, or at least Harry hoped there was, as Ron crowed, "I beat _him_!"

Harry turned to Severus. "Don't let that get to you. Ron's really happy you're back and feeling better."

Severus didn't say anything to contradict him, but Harry could read his facial expression. Severus wasn't fooled.

Harry wasn't fooled either. He wasn't doing a good job at being the adult. But now he can at least consider he was ahead of Ron at this adulting thing.

He asked Severus, "You okay? Need anything?"

The boy shook his head.

Severus watched the golden trio leave.

Having all three in the room with him had been tiring. Granger kept examining him, nearly poking him in the eye with her wand multiple times as she prodded at him with her expectation of unraveling the mystery that he had become. Why was he alive? Why was he younger? Frankly, Severus didn't think it was Dumbledore or else the old fool would take credit. Gryffindors couldn't let their cleverness go unproclaimed.

Sort of like Severus letting Ron Weasley win a game of chess. He wasn't a bad player, but he was a terrible winner.

Hermione spread her parchment and books over the kitchen table while Harry listened to Ron give a move-by-move recap of his chess game to anyone who would listen.

Ginny finally said, "He let you win."

"What? No," Ron denied. "I could tell he wasn't doing that."

"What do you think, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Um, I wasn't giving the game that much attention," he admitted. "Ron won, and that's that."

"You didn't notice how I lured his knight in, or the move with my queen?" Ron asked.

"Not particularly. And you keep forgetting he's not feeling well."

Ron frowned. "Maybe."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "He's faking."

Harry didn't feel like arguing over that again. If the shoe was on the other foot, and Harry was a little kid with his memories and Snape adopted him, which was as likely as Harry adopting Severus, Harry didn't think he'd put up with playing house with Snape for this long. And there was all that time Snape had spent at the orphanage, rather than escaping and striking out on his own. Everybody sort of thought the worst of Severus, when there was no proof he had done anything.

Though Ron seemed to have been won over now that he beat Severus at a game of chess.

Hermione pulled her quills and ink away from Ron. "Why don't you set up the actual chess board in the next room to show whatever you did to someone that wasn't there?"

"You know I might be able to get the pieces to replay the game," Ron mused.

Hermione nodded till Ron exited the kitchen.

She then asked, "Have you interviewed any tutors?"

"Not yet," Harry said. "I thought you could help with that. I'm not sure what he doesn't know and needs to learn."

Hermione held up a school report from the orphanage, "He's fine for Hogwarts according to this. But he's not old enough."

"I don't know if I should send Severus to Hogwarts if Dumbledore's still there."

"Prof. McGonagall's –"

"Not going to do much. Even though he attacked Severus outside of Hogwarts, here at the Burrow, that doesn't mean he won't harass him at school. And it's not like Severus can't take Transfiguration. What if he turns him into a ferret and starts bouncing him around to shake up his memories next time?"

"That was a Death Eater in disguise."

"Crouch didn't make Malfoy piss himself."

Ginny groaned, "Why do you keep bringing that up?"

"Because that's the only thing that seems to strike a chord with anyone. No one seems to think a bloody nose and possible brain damage is any big deal so I have to keep mentioning peeing his pants."

"I think it's terrible," Hermione said while shuffling parchment.

"I don't," Ginny disagreed. "If he didn't end up thinking he was clever this time around, he might not kill anyone."

"I don't think Dumbledore's got a grudge with Severus over that. He said he asked Snape to kill him." Harry gasped, "Wait, do you think that whatever he had Snape do to him that kind of killed him, though I'm not sure how he survived the fall and got young, is something he's trying to stop Severus from telling anyone? That's why he's obsessed with either checking his memories or hurting him so badly that he won't be able to tell anyone what he remembers?"

Ginny made a face at him. "He's driving you crazy. Listen to yourself."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 12

It's not that Harry wasn't listening to people, but there was so much contradictory in their childrearing advice. In addition to Harry thinking some of them didn't have Severus's best interests at heart.

Harry had decided he had to move out of the Burrow, but didn't want to ruin Christmas with his news. Or have some people celebrate Severus moving out, in front of Severus. Or start a loud fight with him. Or maybe Harry should just sneak out one night with Severus and not show up for breakfast. There was no good way to handle this.

He couldn't decide whether he needed to decide where or when first.

Harry would like to live closer to London since his training and eventual job would be based there. How did one go about finding a flat or perhaps a house? Maybe he should talk to Ron about the where part.

The when was trickier. It might be convenient after Ginny returned to Hogwarts after the holidays. Then he could tell her in a letter. Sooner, if Severus's information about the expected engagement came true and Ginny told him off. But Harry didn't know if Ron was in on that plan or not. If Harry told Ron he wanted to move out of the Burrow, Ron could alert the rest of the Weasleys.

Outside of the Weasleys then. It might be convenient to act before Hermione returned to Hogwarts after the holidays. That way Harry could count on at least one person to help. Maybe. Maybe he should sound out Hermione to see what she thought of the idea. And maybe help with the planning. If Hermione expected Harry to whip out a huge engagement ring on Christmas or Christmas Eve, she at least knew she'd have to clue Harry in on the big plan. Maybe he could probe Hermione on that too.

Harry found his opening at dinner when Hermione said, "I need to make a quick trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow."

"Uh, if you have time, maybe I could come with and it'll be a little longer."

Hermione said, "Sure, Harry," before he tilted his head to the side to indicate Severus next to him.

He didn't need Hermione asking questions, and it was easy to hint it was to buy presents for Severus.

The black-haired boy kept shoveling food. At least Harry didn't have to worry about the Weasleys using food as a punishment. Harry could still remember having to share cold, canned soup with Hedwig at the Dursleys over the summer holidays.

He had asked Severus about his business-like way of devouring pretty much everything he was offered. After multiple questions, Harry pieced together Severus's short answers to there hadn't been a lot of food with his family, the orphanage food was iffy, and Mrs. Weasley was a great cook. And then Hermione arrived, watched Severus from across the table, and overlaid the situation with something called 'food insecurity'.

Although Harry hadn't a name for it, he had noticed something was off and didn't think it was the same as Ron's two-fisted eating style. He would get better at this parenting thing, especially if they moved and Severus only had Harry watching over him.

Ron garbled out, "What about me?"

Harry was momentarily chuffed because Severus never did that. He stopped eating, swallowed, then spoke. Harry didn't take credit for that, but he was pleased he had a foundation of socially acceptable manners to build on.

"Uh …" Harry said, trying to think of the best thing to say without sounding suspicious.

Hermione looked over and said, "Ron."

"What?"

"Who do you think I'm shopping for?" she asked.

Ron's "Oh!" was clear since he had finally stopped shoving more food into his mouth.

Ginny gave Harry a smile.

Harry returned the look even though he knew Ginny was going to be disappointed in him.

*** _Join the owls joyous flocking_ ***

By the time they apparated to Diagon Alley the next morning, Harry was ready to burst. Rather than cave to pressure, he let it out as a long stream of words. "Okay, I've been waiting to get you out of the Burrow. Every time I cast _muffliato_ , someone shows up to investigate.

"First, which comes first, probably Ginny because that is the biggest powder keg. Have you heard anything about me proposing marriage this week?"

"What?" Hermione replied. "Ginny's still at school. And I don't think she's fond of Severus. You should give that more time."

Harry sighed. "Thank goodness. I kind of overheard the Weasleys expect me to propose. Maybe because of Severus and showing I'm ready for responsibility. You haven't heard anything?"

Hermione stared at him.

"What?" Harry asked. "You have heard?"

"Not that. But you're not exactly responsible with Severus."

"I … I mean … ugh. That's next. But on Ginny, I'm good?"

"No, but I don't think you can fix that. Don't jump into getting engaged to make her happy. Do it when it's right."

"Okay, but I didn't want to get engaged so I think I'm good. Sort of."

"Look, can we walk while you talk things through?"

"Sure." Harry started moving, and let Hermione lead the way. "Next," he said, "you've kind of guessed that maybe Severus at the Burrow isn't working out."

"Well no, but you're not going to send him back to the orphanage, are you?"

"No!"

"All right."

"Uh, where did you want to go?"

"Bookstore. You're avoiding the question."

"I was thinking of moving out of the Burrow."

Hermione stopped.

"What?" Harry asked. He could tell she was thinking. And he was afraid Hermione was trying to think of a nice way of telling him what a mistake he would be making.

"That might be for the best, but what does Severus think?"

That wasn't what he expected. "Huh? Um, I haven't talked to him yet. I thought I'd start with you."

Hermione's brow furrowed.

"Was that a mistake?" Harry asked.

Her mouth opened, closed, then she said, "I'm flattered, but this is a big change for Severus, and I'm not sure. What did you have in mind?"

"Um, maybe a flat in London or close by."

"Who will be with Severus during the day, or later when you're an auror, at night?"

"That's a good question," Harry admitted. "But no reason to immediately marry Ginny."

"I agree. Even though he's young, Severus may be all right most of the time. But you still need to consider his age, Harry. What if there's some sort of problem?"

"You're right. I need to have some sort of plan."

"After you ask Severus. He may want to stay with the Weasleys. Ron's warmed up to him after that chess game."

"Might be because he was hurt. Some people like underdogs? 8-year-old Snape can't take on Dumbledore."

Hermione shook her head. "I wish I knew what Prof. Dumbledore did. If Severus had his memories, it'd be a lot easier for you."

Harry laughed a moment, then sobered. "Only if he doesn't remember that I adopted him, the Ministry changed his name to Severus Harry Potter, and probably a hundred other things since Dumbledore dragged him out of the Shack kicking and screaming."

"Yeah, you need to be sensitive to what Severus thinks he's gone through, Harry. He may be quiet and not acting out, but understanding his feelings is important. But on the other hand, you still need to make the decisions."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's up to you how your relationship with Ginny progresses and also Severus's place."

"Ginny's the one that's messing that up. Severus hasn't told me to dump her."

"You're dumping Ginny?"

"No, I mean, I need time. Ginny needs time. We need to … yeah, time."

"Like take a break?"

"No … uh … she'll be at Hogwarts so I don't think I need to formalize any sort of break. Do I?"

"Are you planning on seeing anyone else while she's in school?"

"No, or at least I don't think so. I need to concentrate on training and I really should do more with Severus."

"Good. I know you've already said you're doing this because you owe him, but just think of how you could be a major influence in Severus's life."

Harry's mouth opened to say he already had been, but he closed it without replying. Hermione was right. He changed what he was going to say and suggested, "So bookstore?"

"Right."

 _*** Ding dong, ding dong ***_

Harry lay awake in bed, wondering if Severus would enjoy Christmas today. Sometimes, it was difficult to tell whether the boy liked things or simply tolerated them.

Last night at dinner, he ate but wasn't enthustiastic. Harry pushed a couple of crackers towards him, and when he didn't pick them up, held one then another out to him to get pulled. He let Harry put a paper crown on his head, but didn't smile or even smirk. When Severus shook his head 'no' as other hats materialized, Harry respected his wishes.

Hermione whispered to him at one point that Severus could be missing his parents. This would be the first Christmas that the boy would have without them. Harry didn't recall that for himself because any Christmas without the Dursleys could only be seen as an improvement.

The boy sleeping next to him moved slightly before returning to rest. Thankfully, an elbow or knee didn't jab Harry.

Harry put an arm over him. Sometimes Severus woke during the night, fresh from a dream and afraid of Dumbledore.

He had a couple years before Harry needed to give real worry to Hogwarts, unless Harry decided to have it out with Dumbledore before Severus's eleventh birthday. He wasn't sure if the man's promises were worth anything. And people might support his 'greater good' excuse if Severus Snape grew up brain-damaged this time around.

When had Harry turned into such a worrier?

One day at a time. He expected Christmas was going to be a big deal today. First one with Severus. First one while living at the Burrow. First one after Fred died.

Severus moved then sighed.

Harry whispered, "Are you awake?"

"What are you doing?" was Severus's response.

"What? I'm just lying here thinking."

Severus didn't say anything.

See, Harry thought, if this was adult Snape, there would have been a sarcastic response. Famous Harry Potter didn't think.

"What do you think about moving out of the Burrow?" Harry asked.

"You're sending me to Azkaban?"

"Azkaban? That's a prison. What makes you think you have to go to prison?"

"I'm bad."

Harry patted Severus's hair. "I don't think that. And nothing you could do, such as giving sass, will get you sent to Azkaban."

"Didn't I torture and murder people? You said people would want to hurt me, and that's why."

Harry wished people would keep their big mouths shut. Why would anyone tell an 8-year-old boy about that? "That must sound confusing," Harry tried. "You were a spy but on our side, but you couldn't let others know because if you were found out you'd be dead. I'd be dead. Probably this whole house full of people would be dead. And after a long time of thinking your older self was not on our side, they're unable to forget. Or forgive."

"Are you sending me to Australia or South Africa?"

"Huh?"

"That's not far enough away? I don't speak any other languages, unless you want to count Latin."

"No, no. I meant you and me. There's too many people in and out of the Burrow, and some of their words are confusing you, and I don't like that."

"Are they lying or telling the truth?"

Harry sighed. "It's not so simple. They don't know everything. Like you brought up a murder. Dumbledore asked you to kill him. He was dying from a curse and he knew if he let you kill him in front of witnesses, you'd be golden with Voldemort and his mates."

"And then he came back and killed my parents."

"No. It's … argh, I don't know how to explain the basics, but I can say both your parents were dead before you killed old Dumbledore. I don't know how we ended up with Ginger Dumbledore back from the dead a year later dragging you, as you are now, into Hogwarts a couple hours after you were murdered."

"How did I die?"

"I didn't want to go here. You were killed by Voldemort. He ordered his snake … and that was it."

Harry felt Severus take some deep breaths beside him and decided to hold him. This isn't how he expected to kick off Christmas.

"That's the snake that had its head chopped off?"

"Yes, Neville Longbottom killed it."

"It was a big snake that could squeeze someone to death? It crushed me?"

"Um, not quite. It was really big, but also poisonous."

Harry knew he was royally screwing this up. He hated it when people lied or kept him in the dark. But it wasn't Harry's fault that everyone that had a grudge against Snape decided to tell Severus he belonged in Azkaban.

"Could it have been phoenix tears?" Severus asked.

"What?"

"Dumbledore's phoenix. Is that what he did to me after I was poisoned?"

"Wait, slow down. How do you know about Dumbledore's phoenix?"

"Part of our history class at the orphanage. Second greatest wizard after you."

Harry couldn't fix that. "Okay, but I was poisoned by a basilisk and Fawkes, his phoenix, cried on my wound to cure it, but I didn't get any younger."

Severus rolled back into Harry and suggested, "Maybe magic was involved."

"Undoubtedly," Harry agreed. Maybe Hermione could piece something together. She probably already considered Fawkes.

Harry said, "Grim stuff though. Not very jolly Christmas with me I'm afraid. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I haven't told the Weasleys yet about us moving out and I wanted to get your opinion."

"Why?"

"I mean you like it here with getting told your bad enough to go to Azkaban?"

"No, but I meant why ask for my opinion. You are the adult."

"I don't want to make things harder for you by adding uncertainty to your life."

"I don't hate everything here. How do I know you'll find someplace that isn't worse?"

"I won't," Harry promised. "How about we keep this to ourselves? We don't want to spoil Christmas?"

"Don't they want me gone?"

"I think they do, but they don't want to feel guilty about it."

In the dim dawn light, Harry saw Severus move his face towards his. "What does that mean?"

"It's stupid so I'm not going to bother trying to explain it. They should have told me instead of taking it out on you."

"You're daft. It's not like someone gave me the belt."

 _*** Singing you the magic of this place ***_

Harry stuck to Severus like glue for the day's festivities. Presents, breakfast, lunch, goofing around outside even after Severus said he'd prefer to stay in and read his new books, and dinner.

He was surprised that Severus received a Weasley jumper – green with a black 'S'. Maybe he judged Molly too quickly or too harshly?

Severus was his typical subdued self, but he did say 'thank you' to every gift, whether it was books, clothing, or a couple joke products from George.

After hours of festive fun, Harry doubted himself and his decision when Ginny plowed into him and trapped him under some mistletoe after dinner. Why do the Weasleys have mistletoe in the house? Mistletoe could cause a lot of trouble, and by that Harry didn't mean nargles.

"Harry, I have something special for you. Do you have something special for me?"

Ginny went full-blown giant squid on him. How could she touch him in so many places at once with only two hands and her lips?

All summer, Mrs. Weasley turned up every time Harry tried to snog Ginny. Now, the entire Burrow had been tipped on its side so everyone else was in the kitchen, instead of protecting Harry's virtue.

Harry twisted out of her grasp. "You didn't like the quidditch bracelet?"

"I was hoping for a bit more."

Her lips on his earlobe felt weird, and then Harry decided he had enough when teeth got involved.

"Stop," he asked. "Stop."

"Harry."

Ginny sprang back from Harry and looked down at Severus. "What now?"

Severus took a deep breath before murmuring, "Mrs. Weasley asked me to tell Harry that pudding's served."

"We don't want any pudding. Get lost."

"Hey," Harry said. Mrs. Weasley had been watching out for him and Ginny afterall. He expected Severus dawdled after he found Harry in this situation. What eight-year-old wouldn't? "I want to have pudding with Severus."

"Harry, you got to set boundaries with this evil git. He's-"

"No, I don't want to be roped into things before I'm ready."

"I can have pudding without you," Severus suggested.

"It's Christmas," Harry answered, putting a hand on Severus's shoulder to steer him to the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley went through a lot of trouble to make things nice, and Harry felt they should enjoy it as Mrs. Weasley planned, rather than disappearing on her.

Ginny plucked on the back of his shirt.

"What?" he asked.

"You can't regain Christmas through _him._ "

"What do you mean by that?"

"All those horrible Christmases you had as a child."

Harry shook his head. "That doesn't mean I want to ruin everyone else's Christmas."

"You're certainly ruining mine," Ginny snapped.

"You … you … you …" Harry sputtered. This was so unfair. "I think I need to take a break from you."

"A break from me? _You_ are the one who just went ahead and scooped this greasy bastard out of an orphanage and brought him back here without even asking if it was all right. And you knew you wouldn't be able to handle the little monster and threw him at my poor, grieving mum to sort! We have to put alarm charms all over the house at night because this foul creep is going to murder us all in our sleep."

A hollowness grew in Harry as Ginny carried on, ending with his fingers tingling. When he was sure she was done, he said, "I see. Well, I guess we'll get out your way then."

He looked to Severus. The boy stood still. His dark eyes were bright, and he blinked rapidly.

"Come on," he said, reaching down to take Severus's hand.

The doorway behind them was filled with Weasleys and other holiday guests.

Harry swallowed and waited an awkward moment as they stared at him.

"Excuse us," he said and led Severus to the stairs.

"Harry," Hermione called.

He heard her on the stairs behind them and left Percy's door open for her.

Harry released Severus's hand after muttering, "That wasn't your fault. Ginny's mad at me, not you."

Hermione closed the door. "What happened?"

"Ginny's angry at me. And I see I shouldn't be staying here. I guess I don't have to explain it to anyone. She did it for me."

"But what about Severus?"

"He'll come with me." Harry's wand moved as he imitated Tonks's packing charms with some success.

"Where?"

"Leaky Cauldron, I guess. For a start."

"What if they have no room?" Hermione asked. "Christmas is a peak time for travelling."

"I'll go somewhere else then."

Severus quietly said, "You talked about my house at hospital."

"What house?" Hermione asked.

"Spinner's End."

Harry said, "But that's yours. I don't have a key or anything."

"I didn't have a key. Mum fixed the doors to open for me."

"I don't know," Hermione said.

"I was there," Harry responded. Not wanting to insult Severus or his family, he added, "It's fine."

"Maybe I should come too," Hermione said. "Give me a moment to pack."

Someone knocked on the door before Hermione made it out of the room.

She opened the door, and Ron entered.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Why are you packing?"

"Ginny made it pretty clear," Harry responded.

"But where will you go?"

"Don't worry about it."

Hermione said, "Be right back," and left.

"Where's she going?"

"To pack," Harry said.

"Why? And why are you packing? Don't listen to Ginny."

"I've been thinking about this for days, Ron, and it's the right thing to do."

"No, it's not." Ron looked to Severus, still standing in the same spot since Harry let go of his hand. "You taking …"

"Of course. Don't be ridiculous, Ron."

"Let me throw some things together and I'll come too."

"No, you're not. I don't want your family any angier at me than they already are."

"They're not angry at you. Yet. Mum's not going to like this."

"That's why you can't come with us. Don't be this year's Percy."

"Percy's here," Ron said.

"I meant in the past when your family and him weren't seeing eye to eye."

"I ain't a git like Percy."

"I don't think Percy sees himself as one," Harry muttered as he looked under the bed.

Hermione flung open the door and threw her bags in. "Be right back." She closed the door.

"Why you taking Hermione with you?" Ron asked again.

"She wanted to go."

"And you bloody well tell me I can't come? Hermione's my girlfriend."

Harry opened his mouth then shut it. He was not stealing Hermione away in a girlfriend/boyfriend sort of way. He had done plenty nights camping in a tent alone with Hermione to prove to Ron he didn't think of Hermione like that.

He finally said, "I don't think we'll have time for that."

"Why? You on the run from my family? Did you do something to Ginny?"

"No," Harry exclaimed. "I didn't have time to plan, and we might move a couple times."

Catching Severus's frown out of the corner of his eye, Harry added, "Maybe." Hermione would love all the books so it was doubtful they'd be moving on before she returned to school.

"Then stay till you do," Ron said.

"No, this has been coming on for a while. I got to stand on my own two feet and all that."

"Huh?"

"Um, I made my bed and need to lie in it?" Harry tried. He adopted Severus and he planned on seeing it through properly.

Hermione came back in carrying a stack of books with a Reuseable Hangman game on top of it. "Severus didn't bring all his things upstairs yet."

Harry was torn. Should he take the gifts, or should he leave them? Hermione seemed to think 'take', and Ron didn't say leave them as she packed them.

Instead Ron said, "Hermione, tell Harry I should come too."

"What? You? Um, maybe in a couple days, Ron. Let's let the dust settle."

"What dust? What does Harry breaking up with Ginny have to do with us?"

"What?" Hermione said. "Nothing. I meant – I don't even know how big this house is. Harry?"

"Oh, two bedrooms," Harry replied. "I think."

"Yes, two," Severus confirmed.

"Perfect," Ron said. "Harry already sleeps with Severus, so I can kip with Hermione."

Hermione glared at Ron.

"Or on a sofa," Ron suggested.

"I'll send you an owl," Hermione said, her expression unchanged.

Harry picked up Severus's coat and helped him put it on. He knew Severus could do it himself, but Harry wanted to do a little extra for him at the moment. This had to be incredibly stressful. Harry certainly felt stressed.

"Is this house on the floo network?" Hermione asked.

"What house?" Ron asked. "Since when do you have a house?"

Severus looked thoughtful. "I don't think so."

"We'll take the Knight Bus then." Hermione reached her arm into her bag to find her coin purse.

After she extracted that, she threw Harry and Severus's things into her bag and snapped it shut.

"I can't bloody believe this," Ron said. "Both of you really don't want me around?"

"Ron, listen," Harry said. "I'm moving, and when I'm settled in, we'll see. But I want to get out of here tonight."

"And I'm going in case Harry has trouble with a spell or something," Hermione added.

"Harry's a wizard and can cast his own bloody spells."

"Don't get dramatic too, Ron," Hermione said. "Ginny's were enough for one evening."

"What? She didn't mean what she said."

Harry steered Severus towards the door and Hermione followed.

*** _Cast a Christmas Spell_ ***

Hours later after a long rambling ride on the Knight Bus, Severus entered his bathroom in Spinner's End to get ready for bed. He turned on the water to brush his teeth and could finally laugh without any witnesses.


End file.
